Effect of titanium oxide nano-filler on mechanical and sliding wear properties of hairy cotton grass fibre reinforced epoxy composites

This study explores the synergistic influence of hybridizing titanium oxide (TiO2) filler on the mechanical properties and sliding wear behavior of epoxy composites reinforced with hairy cotton grass (HCG) fibres. The experimental results reveals that the combination with 9 wt-% HCG/4 wt-% titanium oxide observed better mechanical results (tensile-51.03 MPa, flexural-28.66 MPa, and impact energy-3.1 J) whereas higher hardness (40.77 HV) achieved at 9 wt-% hairy cotton grass/6 wt-% titanium oxide composites. There is deterioration in mechanical results at higher titanium oxide (6 wt-%) loading due to uneven distribution and particle agglomeration in hairy cotton grass-epoxy composites. The design of expert was generated by using control parameters, sliding velocity (1 m & sdot; s(-1)-4 m & sdot; s(-1)), TiO2 content (0 wt-%-6 wt-%), and normal load (15 N-30 N) respectively. The optimization of the sliding wear rate was analysed by the Taguchi approach followed by an analysis of variance used for evaluating the significant of control parameters. The results showed a combination with significance sliding velocity of 1 ms(-1) (78.15 %)>titanium oxide content of 6 wt-% (20.28 %) >normal load of 30 N (1.57 %) exhibited an optimum value of specific wear rate.