Influence of Seaweed Filler on Dry Sliding Wear of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites

During the last few decades, natural fibers are used as reinforcement in polymer composites and they have been continuously used in the field of automotive, aircraft, and biomedical industries. In this work, carbon fiber polymer composites (CFPC) with seaweed fillers were fabricated using the hand-layup method. Sliding wear experiments were conducted under the dry condition on the fabricated samples. The effect of operating parameters like sliding speed (m/s), load (kg), sliding distance (m), and seaweed filler loading on specific wear rate (Ws) was investigated. Experimental results showed exceptional wear resistance of carbon fiber epoxy composite containing seaweed filler. Especially, 10 wt. % of seaweed fillers offered lower wear rate as compared to conventional carbon composite. In this investigation, a minimum wear rate of 2.4 mu m was obtained for the sliding velocity of 1.5 m/sec, applied load of 2 N, and sliding distance of 1000 m in 10 wt. % of seaweed-filled composites. It was noted that resistance to wear in seaweed-filled composite was mainly due to fiber fracture mechanism and microcracking. The increasing trend of impact strength has been well perceived from the dipping trend in specific wear rate on seaweed dispersion in the CF10SW epoxy composite.