Biobased hybrid composite design for optimum hardness and wear resistance

Abstract

The present investigation considered the design of a biobased hybrid particulate composite for optimal hardness and wear resistance. Tests were conducted based on the plan of 20 sets of experiments generated through Model-Based Calibration Toolbox™ contained in MATLAB routines. A Portable Ultrasonic Hardness tester was used to record the hardness properties while the wear behavior of the composite was tested using a pin-on-disk machine. The optimization study was applied to the Calibration Generation (CAGE) platform utilizing the Normal Boundary Intersection (NBI) algorithm which enables the development of a Pareto optimal set with a continuous and equally distributed chart. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to perform morphological examination. From the optimized results, it was observed that a particle size of 1752 µm, a volume fraction of 45%, and a stirring time of 70 s gave the best-ranked composite exhibiting optimal values of 784.91 Leeb hardness, 643.19 Rockwell hardness, 593.17 Brinell hardness, and 0.000139 mm3/Nm specific wear rate. Under the same conditions, the predicted values of the optimization model closely matched the experimental results. The NBI optimization technique proves to be a viable method for performing material design and property improvement tasks. Surface morphology analysis via SEM revealed that the wearing of bio-based hybrid particulate composite parts is associated with delamination and abrasion mechanisms. It is implied that the new material can be used for applications such as furniture, automotive spare parts, and other inexpensive technical solutions.

Keywords

• Banana fiber particulate
• Coir particulate
• SEM
• NBI algorithm
• Biobased hybrid composite
• Optimization