Influence of process parameters on tribological behavior of Hemp powder reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

Hemp fibers are becoming increasingly popular as a versatile reinforcement in natural fiber-reinforced composites, which have emerged as a sustainable alternative to traditional materials. With an emphasis on maximizing wear resistance, this study examines the wear properties of potassium permanganate (KMnO₄)-treated Hemp fiber powder-reinforced epoxy composite specimens. The experiments on Pin-on-disc were conducted by varying the process parameters, such as time, load and speed to understand the wear damage. This study shed light on the influence of process parameters on the wear mechanism under various circumstances, by analyzing the mass loss of the specimens. The statistical analysis of the obtained results was performed using the Taguchi method at 95% confidence level. The lowest probability value (p values) was obtained for Time (0.018) followed by Speed (0.043). The study predicted that the mass loss was significantly influenced by time and speed. The surface morphology study of the tested specimens, performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) depicted that the mass loss of the specimens during the wear test is a combined effect of the formation of micro-cracks, micro ploughing, delamination and crater. The integration of Taguchi analysis and surface morphology study yield a thorough comprehension of the wear properties of natural fiber-reinforced composites, enabling their optimization for an extensive array of technical uses.

Keywords:

• Hemp fiber
• Wear
• Taguchi
• Fiber treatment
• Pin-on-disc

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Ian Philip Jones, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

SUBJECTS:

• Mechanical Engineering; Materials Science; Manufacturing Engineering

Acknowledgments

The authors were greatly thankful to Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal and N.M.A.M. Institute of Technology, Nitte, Karkala, Karnataka, India for providing the composite manufacturing and testing facility.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this article.

Author contributions

Pruthviraj Hemanth Patil, Rahul K., Pranam Shetty, Vineeth Jeevan Dias – Experimental work, Formal Analysis, Data Curation and Writing – Original Draft and Writing; Thara Reshma I. V. – Data Curation and Review and Editing; Manjunath Shetty–Formal Analysis, Writing – Review and Editing; Padmaraj N. H. – Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis and Supervision.

Data availability

The data will be made available on request.