Effect of Silicon Dioxide Nano-filler on Mechanical and Sliding Wear Properties of Agave fourcroydes Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Composites

The mechanical properties and sliding wear behavior of epoxy composites reinforced with Agave fourcroydes (AF) fibers were investigated in this study to investigate the synergistic effect of hybridizing silicon dioxide (SiO2) filler. The experimental results reveal that the combination with 10 wt % AF/5 wt % silicon dioxide observed better mechanical results (tensile - 55.99 MPa, flexural – 31.67 MPa, and impact energy - 4.225 J). In contrast, higher hardness (45.87 HV) was achieved at 10 wt % Agave fourcroydes / 7 wt % silicon dioxide composites. There is deterioration in mechanical results at higher silicon dioxide (7 wt %) loading due to uneven distribution and particle agglomeration in Agave fourcroydes-epoxy composites. The design of the expert was generated by using control parameters, sliding velocity (2 m/s - 5 m/s), SiO2 content (0 wt % - 7 wt %), and normal load (20 N - 35 N), respectively. The optimization of the sliding wear rate (WR) was analyzed by the Taguchi approach, followed by an analysis of variance used for evaluating the significance of control parameters. The results showed a combination with silicon dioxide content of 7 wt % (60.7 %) > normal load of 35 N (46.9 %), > sliding velocity of 5 ms-1 (0.4 %) exhibited an optimum value of specific wear rate.