Leverage of Environmental Pollutant Crump Rubber on the Dry Sliding Wear Response of Epoxy Composites.

The effect of crump rubber on the dry sliding wear behavior of epoxy composites is investigated in the present study. Wear tests are carried out for three levels of crump rubber (10, 20, and 30 vol.%), normal applied load (30, 40, and 50 N), and sliding distance (1, 3, and 5 km). The wear behavior of crump rubber-epoxy composites is investigated against EN31 steel discs. The hybrid mathematical approach of Taguchi-coupled Grey Relational Analysis (GRA)-Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used to examine the influence of crump rubber on the tribological response of composites. Mathematical and experimental results reveal that increasing crump rubber content reduces the wear rate of composites. Composites also show a significant decrease in specific wear values at higher applied loads. Furthermore, the coefficient of friction also shows a decreasing trend with an increase in crump rubber content, indicating the effectiveness of reinforcing crump rubber in a widely used epoxy matrix. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results also reveal that the crump rubber content in the composite is a significant parameter to influence the wear characteristic. The post-test temperature of discs increases with an increase in the applied load, while decreasing with an increase in filler loading. Worn surfaces are analyzed using scanning electron microscopy to understand structure-property correlations. Finally, existing studies available in the literature are compared with the wear data of the present study in the form of a property map

Room and High Temperature Tensile Responses of Tib2-Graphene Al 7075 Hybrid Composite Processed through Squeeze Casting

The development of aluminium composite with the inclusion of advanced materials is a continuous research process due to the increasing industrial demand for advanced hybrid materials. To cater for this need, this research work focuses on the development of Al 7075 alloy reinforced with TiB2 and graphene and on the evaluation of its strengthening mechanism. Two different modes of improving the strength of the hybrid composite have been followed; one is by the inclusion of graphene at three levels of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3%, and another by the processing route, squeeze casting technique by compression of the molten hybrid composite slurry before casting. The microstructure and characterisation of the composite material are examined and analysed with the help of XRD, SEM, EDAX and chemical spectroscopy. A microstructure evaluation is employed to justify the homogenous dispersal and the existence of reinforced particles. A tensile test is conducted at room temperature and high temperature environments to assess the tensile strength. The research outcome affirms that a significant improvement in tensile and hardness has been noted in comparison with base alloy. The fracture-morphology results affirm the change in fracture mode from brittle to ductile when the tensile testing environment changes from room temperature to high temperature. Finally, the dispersion strengthening mechanism is validated with an empirical approach