Volume 10 Issue 3 ( September 2023 )

As the world of composite materials evolves, it will be necessary to use inexpensive and readily available natural materials as reinforcement. In present research work, epoxy composite reinforced with citrus limetta peels is fabricated by hand Layup setting using epoxy, hardener and powdered citrus limetta peel. Under dry conditions, the material was subjected to wear analysis on “Pin on Disc” wear testing equipment. Using Minitab 18 software a Taguchi “L9 Orthogonal Array”, a plan of experiment was prepared to determine the wear behaviour in terms of wear and frictional force. The two output response elements, namely wear and friction force, have been chosen, and Taguchi analysis has been carried out on each individual output parameter. "Smaller-the-Better" option has been chosen for Taguchi Analysis. Using Taguchi analysis, signal to noise ratios have been developed for wear and friction force. The response factors with smaller values would result in superior composite structures. The wear property of composite was found to be affected by modifying applied load, sliding speed, and sliding time. The best combination of process settings resulted in the least amount of dry sliding wear possible. The ideal composite structure for wear and friction force is achieved when the load is 10 N, the test time is 4 minutes, and the sliding speed of RPM of 400.

Keywords: Citrus limetta peels composite, Wear analysis, Taguchi-GRA-PCA.