Effect of the Addition of Marble Dust on the Physical, Mechanical and Abrasive Wear Behaviour of Epoxy/Banana Fiber/Marble Dust Hybrid Composites

Marble dust, a byproduct of marble stone industries, often considered waste, has been effectively utilised as a filler material in epoxy/banana fibre composites. The specimens were fabricated with a constant banana fibre content of 7.5 wt. % and varying marble dust content from 0 wt. % to wt.% using the hand layup technique. The prepared samples underwent testing to estimate their physical, mechanical, and abrasive wear behaviour. From the experimental investigation, it was observed that the density, void content and water absorption rate increase as the content of marble dust in the epoxy resin increases. An addition of marble dust reduces the tensile and flexural strength of the composites, but increases the impact strength and hardness of the material. The addition of 20 wt. % of marble dust reduces the tensile and flexural strength by 20 % and 22 %, respectively. The maximum values for impact strength and hardness were obtained for 20 wt. % marble dust content is 39.8 kJ/m2 and 51 Barcol number, respectively, showing an incredible increment of 25.5 % and 70 %, respectively. The study employed the Taguchi experimental design method to determine the optimum Specific Wear Rate (SWR) using L25 as an orthogonal array matrix. The parameters selected were marble dust loading, normal load, sliding velocity, and sliding distance. The analysis shows that the factor influencing the specific wear rate is the filler content, followed by sliding velocity, normal load and sliding distance. Furthermore, the wear mechanism was analysed by examining the abraded portion of the tested specimen using micrographs.