Solid particle erosion of glass fibre reinforced flyash filled epoxy resin composites

Experiments were carried out to study the effects of flyash filler, impingement angle and particle velocity on the solid particle erosion behaviour of E-glass fibre reinforced epoxy (GFRP) composites. The erosive wear of flyash filled composites is evaluated at different impingement angles from 30 degrees to 90 degrees and at three different velocities of 24, 35 and 52 in s(-1). The erodent used is silica sand with the size range 150-250 mu m of irregular shapes. The result shows semi-ductile erosion behaviour with maximum erosion rate at 60 degrees impingement angle. The erosion rate (R) displays a strong dependence on impact velocity (V), which follows and the power law R proportional to V-n for all the materials. We find that erosive wears of GFRP composite with 4 g flyash as filler is the lowest. This filler restricts fibre-matrix debonding. Pure glass epoxy without any filler shows the highest erosion rate due to weak bonding strength. The morphologies of eroded surface were examined by the scanning electron microscope. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.