Tribological Characterization of Nano-Al2O3-Filled Nickel-Coated Short Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Composites

The present investigation consists of wear characterization of epoxy composites reinforced with nickel-coated short carbon fiber (NCEp) filled with Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nano particles. The NCEp composites were prepared using open mold technology with 60% Epoxy +40% fiber and various proportions (0, 2, 4 & 6 wt.%) of Al2O3 nanoparticles to evaluate the effect of nanofillers on wear characteristics of composites. The hardness test results confirmed that when the Al2O3 nanoparticles content increases, the hardness also increased and it is maximum at 6 wt.% filler loading. The wear characterization is carried out using dry sliding wear under constant velocity and sliding distance at different loads. The wear test results shows that wear loss increased as the load increases and the addition Al2O3 nanoparticles leads to decreased wear loss. The optimization of investigational results was carried out by designing taguchi L9 orthogonal array. Further, ANOVA analysis shows that the percentage contribution of load (81.88%) has a significant influence on the specific wear rate and wear loss of the composites.