Effects of wheat starch on erosive wear of E-glass fibre reinforced epoxy resin composite materials

Erosive wear tests were carried out to study the effects of particle, impingement angle and particle velocity on the solid particle erosion behaviour of E-glass fibre reinforced epoxy resin (GFRP) composites. The erosive wear of wheat flour powder filled composites is evaluated at different impingement angles from 30 degrees to 90 degrees and at three different velocities of 24, 35 and 52 m s-(1). The erodent used is silica sand with the size range 150-250 mu m of irregular shapes. The result shows erosive wear rates of GFRP composite with 2 g wheat flour, as filler is the lowest. This restricts fiber-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 B.V. All rights reserved.