Effect of filler material type and ratio on erosion wear behavior of fiber reinforced composite materials

In this study, solid particle erosion behavior of epoxy resin based glass and carbon fiber reinforced composite materials containing different types and ratio of fillers were investigated. Silica fume (microsilica, SiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) as filler materials were added to the composite materials 0, 8 and 16 wt%. Composite materials were fabricated by using vacuum assisted hand lay-up technique. The solid particle erosion wear performances of the samples were determined at impact angles of 20°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° and impact velocities of 70, 100, 150 and 200 m/s. Silicon carbide (SiC) abrasive particle with an average particle diameter of 72, 175 and 348 µm, respectively, was used as erodent in erosion test. The results show that erosion rate increased with increasing impact velocity, impact duration and abrasive particle size in all composite materials. Erosive wear values also increased with increasing impact angle in glass fiber reinforced composite materials, but erosion values increased up to 60° impact angle in carbon fiber based composites and decreased slightly above this value. Silica fume filled composite materials exhibited better erosion resistance than zinc oxide filled composites. The eroded surfaces of the composites were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As a result of the investigation, fiber/matrix debonding, fiber fracture, matrix deformation and microcracks were observed as wear mechanism on the composite materials.