International Journal of Advanced Engineering and Technology

Authors
Musa Alhaji Ibrahim, Samaila Danbaba, Magaji Tambaya

Abstract
Reinforced polymer composites are widely used for aerospace, automobile and structural applications owing to their exceptional combination of high specific modulus and strength. These dual behaviours make these materials attractive as compared to traditional ones. Parametric optimization abrasion resistance of glass, carbon and bronze fibres reinforced polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) using Taguchi method is studied in this article. Friction and wear experiments were carried out on pin-on-disc arrangement at normal temperature as per ASTM G99 standard. A plan of experiment based on Taguchi design was used to obtain data in a controlled way. An orthogonal array of L9 (34) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) have been used to determine the influence of process variables on coefficient of friction (COF) and specific wear rate (Ks) of reinforced PTFE composites. Results revealed that increase in load and grit size decreased the COF while increase in sliding distance and sliding speed increased the COF. More so, Ks decreased as the load, grit size, sliding distance and speed increased. Optimal combination of parameters that minimized COF and Ks were determined as L2-G1-D2-S3 and L3-G3-D3-S3, respectively. Confirmatory test was done to validate the optimal testing parameters. ANOVA results revealed that applied load was the most significant parameter that influenced COF and Ks with a contribution of 80.79% and 82.13%, respectively. Confirmatory finding indicated good agreement between predicted and experimental values of signal-noise-ratios with an error of 1.10 dB and 1.98 dB for COF and Ks, respectively.