Polymer Blended (Epoxy/Vinylester) Nanocomposites Resistance against Pulling & Sliding Wear Loads

This paper discloses the development and synthesis of polymer blended nanocomposites filled with nanoclay. The hybridization of epoxy is mixed with vinylester resin (VER) to prepare polymer blend filled with organoclay was studied to enhance mechanical properties of epoxy/VER. Clay loading was done in such a way that with different wt. proportions viz.1, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, & 7.5 w % ratios. Appropriately cured samples gave excellent mechanical and tribological properties. Results showed that the tensile strength of the composites increased with increase in filler content for the range of filler contents (2.5-4 % vol.). The results indicated that at 4 % wt. of filler concentration the tensile strength obtained is good i.e. 47.79 MPa with density 1.37 gm/cm3 and hardness 45.5. Dry Sliding wear tests were also conducted by following a well-planned experimental schedule based on Taguchi’s design of experiments, considering parameters like Filler content, Normal load, Sliding Velocity and Sliding distance, on a Pin-On-Disc set-up (ASTM G-99 standard, Make: DUCOM Engineers, Bangalore, India). In the experimentation composite pins were worn against a rotating steel disc (Europe Norm) EN-31, (Rockwell C Hardness) HRC 60 and (Roughness Average) Ra 0.02 microns. Control factors like Filler Content, Normal Load were found to be significant factors affecting the Wear rate i.e. the inclusion of nanoclay as filler found to be contributed in improving the wear resistance of the composite. SEM observations are made to probe the wear mechanisms involved.