Erosion wear characteristics of step-wise layered polymer composite materials by silica sand particles

Polymer composite materials (PCMs) can sustain themselves in harsh environments without suffering any loss of properties of the constituents. The present study focussed on erosion wear behavior of step-wise layered polymer composite materials (LPCMs). Samples were fabricated with epoxy as matrix and aluminum as filler particles using hand lay-up technique. Volume fraction of the filler was varied at four different layers along the direction thickness. Experiments were conducted at room temperature using angular shaped silica sand erodent impacting at 151 m/s and at impingement angles of 30°, 45°, 60° and 90°. Due to the variation in filler content, testing of samples was performed at two different orientations: i) top to bottom (T-B) and ii) bottom to top (B-T). The increased filler content reduced the erosion wear as tested from B-T, while a reverse trend was observed along T-B. Moreover, erosion wear was found to be higher at 45° impingement angle indicating the semi-ductile nature of LPCMs. At this angle, the erosion wear rate at top layer was 76.47% lower compared to bottom due to the presence of high filler content.