Experimental investigation on mechanical and wear properties of GNP/Carbon fiber/epoxy hybrid composites

Abstract

In this research, carbon fiber and Graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) of different weight percentages of GNP (0, 0.1,0.3, and 0.5 wt%) reinforced hybrid composites were fabricated via hand layup technique followed by compression molding. For wear analysis to understand the correlation between control parameters (wt% of filler, normal load, velocity, and sliding distance) and response measurements (weight loss), the design of experiments and analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used. The control variables such as normal loads (5, 10, 15, and 20 N), velocity (1, 2, 3 and 4 m s-1), and sliding distance (200, 300, 400, and 500 m) are selected for the research. It was observed that 0.5 wt% GNP-filled carbon fiber/epoxy composite shows higher tensile and flexural strength than another composite. It has been discovered that adding GNP reduces the wear in terms of weight loss. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine composites' worn surfaces. The analysis concluded that experimental results are closer to optimum results.