Study of Solid Particle Erosion Wear Behavior of Bamboo Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite with Cenosphere Filler

In this study, solid particle erosion (SPE) wear behavior of bamboo fiber-reinforced epoxy composite with cenosphere filler was investigated. Cenosphere is an industrial waste of thermal power plants which is produced during burning of pulverized coals. The present composites consisting of varying weight percentage of fibers and cenosphere fillers were prepared by hand lay-up technique. The erosion wear rates of these composites have been studied with varying impact velocities and impingement angles. The study reveals that addition of cenosphere filler to the bamboo-epoxy composite reduces its erosion wear rate. Morphologies of the eroded surface of composite samples were inspected by a scanning electron microscope to discuss the behavior of erosion wear. Both bamboo-epoxy composite with and without cenosphere filler show semiductile erosion wear behavior with maximum erosion rate at an impingement angle of 60(degrees).