On the Erosive Wear of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Composite in the Olive Oil Extraction Process

Abstract

Abstract The olive pomace erosion wear behavior of carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composite (epoxy/CF) has been analyzed. A tribological test was carried out using an in house centrifugal testing setup in order to simulate the environment in olive oil extraction procedure. The environment is composed from a pomace-to-water ratio 70/30. The erosion wear-rate of this composite has been studied at different impact angles (45 deg and 90 deg) and at different impact velocities (200, 1200, 1500, and 2000 rpm). It was demonstrated that both the impact angle and the impact velocity have a significant effect on the carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composite erosive wear-rate. The main findings reveal an erosive wear characterized by brittle damage; in fact, micro-cracks at the surfaces and sub-surfaces were found. The damage surfaces were marked by fragmented fibers.