Effect of Fiber Orientations on Tribological Behaviour of PALF Reinforced Bisphenol-A Composite

Abstract— Ironically, despite the growing familiarity with composite materials and ever-increasing range of applications, use of natural fibers as reinforcement in polymeric composites for technical application has been a research subject of scientist. Pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) is one of them that have also good potential as reinforcement in polymer composite. In this present work, an experimental study has been conducted to determine the effect of fiber orientation, namely, unidirectional, bidirectional and 45o orientation on specific wear rate and frictional coefficient of PALF reinforced Bisphenol-A (BPA) composite by using a pin-on-disc wear and frictional testing machine. The wear samples are slided against stainless steel disc by varying loads of 5N, 10N & 15 N under constant sliding distance, velocity, speed and dry conditions. It is found that the wear resistance of pure Bisphenol-A resin is improved after PALF reinforcement. Among three types of fiber orientation in composite, bidirectional composite shows least specific wear rate and coefficient of friction.