Title: Experimental investigation on the effect of rice straw reinforcement on the wear properties of polymer composite

Authors: Abhishek Sadananda Madival; Deepak Doreswamy; Raviraj Shetty

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, India ' Department of Mechatronics, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, India ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, India

Abstract: Most of the agro-wastes generated are either burnt or discarded in the open environment causing environmental pollution. Recently, agro-wastes are popularly considered for polymer reinforcement to develop natural composites for various industrial applications. Therefore, in this study, a natural composite material is fabricated using rice straw and its tribological properties are evaluated using the pin-on-disk machine. The experimental study revealed that adding rice straw fibre improved the wear resistance of epoxy material. The composite with a maximum rice straw concentration of 60 wt.% showed the lowest specific wear rate (W_S) of 1.019 × 10^-13 m³/N m. The rice straw particles are observed to reduce the wear losses in the test samples by improving the load bearing capability and thermal stability of the neat composite during the wear test. In addition, the W_S of the test samples dropped with increased sliding speed and distance. However, with the increase in the load, the W_S increased.

Keywords: rice straw; natural composite; polymers; specific wear rate; pin-on-disk.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSURFSE.2024.141507

International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering, 2024 Vol.18 No.3, pp.189 - 203

Received: 06 May 2023
Accepted: 08 Jul 2023
Published online: 18 Sep 2024 *

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