Computational Materials Science 60 (2012) 250260

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Computational Materials Science

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Thermo-mechanical correlations to erosion performance of short glass/carbon

ber reinforced vinyl ester resin hybrid composites
Sandeep Kumar a, Bhabani K. Satapathy a,, Amar Patnaik b
a
Centre for Polymer Science and Engineering, I.I.T. Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, N.I.T. Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh 177 005, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t s

Article history: This paper focuses on the erosion of bre reinforced hybrid composites consisting of vinyl ester resin and
Received 30 January 2012 short E-glass/carbon ber (1:1) at different ber weight fractions (from 20 wt.% to 50 wt.%). A plan of
Received in revised form 8 March 2012 experiments is carried out to investigate the optimal level of control factors using Taguchi orthogonal
Accepted 11 March 2012
arrays design that lead to minimization of erosion rate. The steady state erosion responses of these com-
Available online 24 April 2012
posites are investigated with respect to impingement angle, impact velocity and erodent size by keeping
other factors constant. The dynamic mechanical properties were evaluated to determine possible corre-
Keywords:
lation with erosion rate of these composites. The storage modulus (E0 ) steadily increases up to 3927 MPa
Polymer composite
Wear
for 40 wt.% ber, but on further increase in the ber content, the E0 value decrease to 3321 MPa at 0 C.
Dynamic mechanical analysis The maximum storage modulus was obtained at 40 wt.% of ber contents which may be due to the max-
Brittleness imum stress-transfer between the bers and matrix. ColeCole plot of hybrid composites was made at
different ber contents to evaluate the heterogeneity of the system. Finally, a wicket plot is also studied
to observe the material behavior, in terms of relaxation of materials. The worn surface of composites
were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to observe the mechanism of erosion.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Generally, the hybrid composites consist of two or more
reinforcing phase in a single matrix. The reinforcing phase may
be bres only or ller particulates in combination with bres or
ller particulates only etc. These kinds of phase combinations
may produce synergistic strengthening or hybrid effect and
make improvements in the mechanical properties of the compos-
ites [1]. Hybrid composites are generally used to cut down the cost
of manufacturing composites with a combination of best mechan-
ical, tribological and thermal properties. In the last few decades,
hybrid composites materials [24] have been successfully imple-
mented in the erosion wear environment applications. Mahapatra
and Patnaik [2] reported that cement-by-pass-dust (CBPD) lled
glass ber polyester based hybrid composites exhibited better ero-
sion resistance over the alumina and silicon carbide lled polymer
composites. Patnaik et al. [3] proposed that among the three (i.e.
y-ash, SiC and Al2O3) particulate lled glasspolyester compos-
ites, alumina lled composites provides better erosion resistance.
Further, Patnaik et al. [4] reported in another research work that
the glass beralumina lled polyester hybrid composites showed
greater enhancement in the erosion performance with respect to
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 11 26596043; fax: +91 11 26591421.
E-mail addresses: bhabaniks@gmail.com, bhabani@polymers.iitd.ernet.in (B.K.
Satapathy).
unlled glass ber lled polyester composites. Among the different
hard particulates, Al2O3 particulates in hybrid composites have gi-
ven maximum improvement [5,6]. The presence of SiC llers in
jute berepoxy composites has improved the erosion resistance
and dependent on the weight content of the ller [7]. It was re-
ported in the recent research work that the higher percentage
and smaller particle size of CaCO3 increased the strength and the
erosive wear resistance of the CaCO3 lled glass ber reinforced
unsaturated polyester composites [8]. The copper slag lled bam-
boo ber reinforced epoxy based hybrid composites shows better
erosion wear resistance than that of copper slag lled glass ber
reinforced epoxy based composites [9]. Similarly, red mud lled
bamboo-epoxy hybrid composites shows better erosion wear resis-
tant property than red mud lled glass ber reinforced epoxy com-
posites [10]. The effects of the dispersion of the carbon phase in the
hybrid revealing that the degree of interaction between bundles in-
creases as the bundle spacing decreases and the strain increases
[11]. Few researchers studied the mechanical behavior [1214]
and two-body abrasive wear response [15] of both glass and car-
bon ber reinforced hybrid composites; and authors found that
the carbon ber in vinyl ester shows better abrasion resistance
compared to glass bervinyl ester (GFVE) resin composites.
It has been observed from the literature that extensive research
on hybrid composites to study the erosion wear behavior is sparse.
Therefore, the objective of the present research work is to system-

0927-0256/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2012.03.021
 S. Kumar et al. / Computational Materials Science 60 (2012) 250260
atically investigate the erosive wear performance of hybrid com-
posites with special reference to investigate the optimal level of
control factors using Taguchi design. The erosion rate evaluation
by one variable at a time (OVAT) approach was also attempted to
correlate with the dynamic mechanical properties of these hybrid
composites.
2. Experimental details
2.1. Materials
Short carbon bres (density: 1.81 g/cm3) and short E-glass ber
(density: 2.6 g/cm3) of 6 1 mm length are used to prepare the
composites. The vinyl ester resin is supplied by CibaGeigy having
density of 1.05 g/cm3 and 40 Barcol Hardness is used as the matrix
material. The tensile modulus and strength of matrix material are
about 2.63.4 GPa and 65 MPa, respectively; exural modulus and
strength are about 3.6 GPa and 125 MPa respectively; and heat dis-
tortion temperature is 105 C.
2.2. Composite fabrication
Hybrid composites consisting two different bres were pre-
pared by varying the weight fraction of bres from 20 wt.% to
50 wt.% with an equal amount of E-glass and carbon ber
(20 wt.% means 10 wt.% of E-glass bre and 10 wt.% of carbon -
bres). It is then mixed with vinyl ester resin uniformly with the
help of mechanical stirrer for 5 min. Approximately 0.3% cobalt
naphthenate (accelerator) is mixed thoroughly in vinyl ester resin
followed by 2% methyl-ethyl-ketone peroxide (MEKP) as catalyst
prior to ber reinforcement and also added together with
0.05 wt.% of 2,4-pentanedione (2,4-P) used as a retarder for the
extension of the reaction gel time. The composites sheets are made
by conventional hand-lay-up technique. The entrapped air bubbles
(if any) are removed carefully with a roller before closing of the
mould. The castings are put under a constant pressure of 10 kg/
cm2 for about 24 h for proper curing at room temperature
(30 C). The details of composite designation and composition are
given in Table 1. Specimens of suitable dimension are cut using a
diamond cutter for dynamic mechanical characterization and ero-
sion testing (ASTM G76). The details of erosion type test rig appa-
ratus was given in our previous work [16].
2.3. Dynamic mechanical properties of the composites
The thermo-mechanical responses of the composites were mea-
sured using TA instruments-Q800 model dynamic mechanical
analysis (DMA) instrument in bending mode and conducted in a
nitrogen atmosphere at a xed frequency of 1 Hz, heating rate of
5 C/min, temperature range of 0180 C and at a strain of 1% on
rectangular samples with approximate dimensions of 38  12.5
 3.5 mm3.
Table 1
Details of composite designation and composition.
Composite designation Composition (wt.% fraction)
Vinyl ester resin Carbon ber
VGC0 100 00
VGC20 80 10
VGC30 70 15
VGC40 60 20
VGC50 50 25
251
2.4. Worn surface morphology
The erosion mechanisms of hybrid composites materials were
investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the eroded
surface using ZEISS EVO Series- Model EVO 50-Scanning Electron
Microscope instrument. The impact and other erosion parameters
induced craters and material deformation and damage modes have
been qualitatively assessed.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Thermo-mechanical properties
The thermo-mechanical properties of the composites as a func-
tion of temperature were conducted in single cantilever mode and
measured using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Figs. 13
present the visco-elastic response of hybrid composites with dif-
ferent ber weight fraction and temperature.
3.1.1. Effect of ber weight fraction on dynamic mechanical properties
Fig. 1 shows the effect of temperature on the storage modulus
(E0 ) of the randomly oriented intimately mixed short carbon and
glass ber reinforced hybrid composites. The E0 values of the com-
posites are found to be far (spacious) to each other below (glass
transition temperature) Tg and showing greater contribution of
the bers towards the stiffness of the composites at low tempera-
ture. In all the composites, E0 decreases with increase in tempera-
ture, however no change is observed in E0 after 140 C. In the
rubbery phase after glass transition (Tg), the E was slightly higher
for higher ber content which indicates the effect of reinforcement
of short carbon/glass ber above Tg. The reinforcement plays signif-
icant role in glassy phase, glassy to rubbery and rubbery region of
composites. However, by the incorporation of bers, the E0 value
steadily increases upto 3927 MPa for 40 wt.% of ber content but
on further increasing, the value decrease to 3321 MPa at 0 C.
The maximum storage modulus was obtained at 40 wt.% of bers
may be due to maximum stress-transfer between the ber and vi-
nyl ester matrix takes place [17,18]. On further increase in the ber
content, there may be increased ber to ber contact area which
diminishes effective stress-transfer between ber and matrix and
decreases the value of E0 .
The energy dissipation ability or loss modulus (E00 ) of the mate-
rial has theoretical correspondence to the toughness of the com-
posites. The variation of E00 as a function of temperature is shown
in Fig. 2. It is observed from the gure that a positive shifting
E-glass ber
00
10
15
20
25
Fig. 1. Effect of temperature on the storage modulus of composites.
252 S. Kumar et al. / Computational Materials Science 60 (2012) 250260

Hence, at high bre loading, when strain is applied to the ber rein-
forced composite, the strain is mainly taken by the bre in such a
case that the interface generally is assumed to be more dissipative
component of the composite and is strained to a lesser degree [24].

3.1.2. ColeCole analysis

ColeCole plot is required to conrm the structural changes
occurring in the proposed hybrid composites after addition of
mixed glass and carbon ber in the matrix material [25]. The
ColeCole plot of hybrid composites at different ber content is
shown in Fig. 4. It demonstrated about the nature of the composite
system. The semicircular diagram is indicative of homogeneous
polymeric system [17,26] and the imperfect circles indicate heter-
ogeneity system. In this work, the imperfect circles of the dual ber
reinforced vinyl ester resin hybrid composites is observed, which
behaves like heterogeneity of the system as shown in Fig. 4.

3.1.3. Wicket plot

Fig. 2. Effect of temperature on the loss modulus of composites. A curve looking like a croquette is a wicket plot as shown in
Fig. 5. All the relaxation times are equally affected by the temper-
ature. Wicket plots ensure the assumption of single relaxation time
[26]. The wicket plot shows the transition and material behavior of
the hybrid composites. Fig. 6 also represents a nice curve of transi-
tion in material behavior, which indicated the relaxation of
materials.

3.2. Taguchi experimental design

Design of experiment (DOE) is a powerful tool that deals with

the planning, conducting, analyzing and interpreting controlled
tests to evaluate the optimal factors. In Taguchi DOE, the most
important stage is the selection of control factors (variable) and
xed parameters. A large number of control factors are initially in-
cluded so that non-signicant factors can be identied at earliest
opportunity. In-depth literature survey on erosion behavior of
polymer composites reveals that parameters viz., impingement an-
gle, impact velocity, ber loading, erodent size and stand off dis-
tance etc. largely inuence the erosion rate of polymer
Fig. 3. Effect of temperature on the damping properties of composites. composites [27,28]. The xed and control parameters designations
are presented in Table 2. The inuence of ve such parameters at
four levels are studied using L16 (45) orthogonal array design. The
(towards higher temperature) loss modulus peak with respect to - operating condition under which erosion tests were performed,
ber content. The segmental immobilization of the matrix chain at are shown in Table 3.
the ber surface primarily may attribute to this shifting [19]. It is In Table 4, each column represents a test parameter whereas
also observed that the loss modulus curve spreads over a wider each row stands for a test condition which is a combination of
distribution (broadening of peak) and shows a higher peak at a
higher loading of ber may be because of a consequence of the
inhibition of the transition relaxation process of the chain seg-
ments in the composites or due to increase in rigidity of the chain
segment, increasing material hetereogeniety [20]. The poor inter-
face associated with the result of a higher peak height [21] and
may be dissipated more energy.
In composite materials, the type and distribution of llers, as
well as the ller/matrix interaction and the void content is greatly
inuencing the damping properties [17,18,22]. The variation of the
tan d of the composites as a function of temperature is shown in
Fig. 3. The height of the tan d peak has been observed maximum
for the composite with a bre content of 40/50 wt.% (VGC40/50)
indicating enhanced damping performance which is closely fol-
lowed by the composite (VGC30) with 30 wt.% of bre content.
The energy dissipation will occur at the interface and a poor inter-
face (VGC40) allows strong dissipation may be due to an inhibition
of the movement of the molecules to increase the incorporation of
stiff carbon bers in the composites.
Therefore, composites with poor interfacial bonding may tend to Fig. 4. ColeCole plot of the hybrid composites having weight fraction of glass and
dissipate more energy that with good interfaces bonding [23]. carbon 1:1 at different ber loading.
 S. Kumar et al. / Computational Materials Science 60 (2012) 250260 253

time and cost. The experimental erosion rate are transformed into
signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios. The different S/N ratios are available
depending on the types of performance characteristics. The S/N ra-
tios for minimum erosion rate can be expressed as smaller the
better characteristic, which is calculated as shown below [29]
n 
S 1 P
Smaller-the-better characteristic : 10 log y2 1
N n i1 i

where n is the number of tests and yi is the value of experimental

Fig. 5. Wicket plot of the hybrid composites having weight fraction of glass and
carbon 1:1 at different ber loading.
result of the ith test.
The plan of experiment in the present study is as follows: The
rst column is assigned to the impact velocity (factor A), the sec-
ond column to ber loading (factor B), the third to impingement
angle (factor C), the fourth to stand-off distance (factor D) and
the fth to the erodent size (factor E) (Table 3). The S/N ratios given
in Table 4 are the average of three replications. The overall mean
for the S/N ratios of composites reinforced with two different bers
are found to be 71.26 db. The analyzes are made by using well
known software MINITAB 14. The analysis of results gives the min-
imum erosion rate of the composites at factor combination of A1,
B2, C4, D3, E4 as shown in Fig. 7.
Furthermore, analysis of variance (ANOVA) is performed to
identify the process parameters of signicance (shown in Table 5).
With the consideration of minimization of erosion rate, it is ob-
served that the factors impact velocity; impingement angle and
erodent size have signicant effects on the investigated hybrid
composites whereas factors stand-off distance and ber content
has considerably less effect. With the S/N and ANOVA analyzes,
the optimal combination of the process parameters can be pre-
dicted to a acceptable level of accuracy. Finally, a conrmation
experiment is conducted to verify the optimal process parameters
obtained from the parameteric design.

3.2.1. Conrmation experiment

Fig. 6. Variation of loss modulus with tan d of hybrid composites.
The nal step in any DOE is to predict and verify the experimen-
tal results. For this purpose, the conrmation experiment is per-
formed by taking an arbitrary set of factor level combination and
compare with experimental results. The estimated S/N ratio for
wear rates can be calculated with the help of following predictive
equations:

Table 2 g1 T A2  T B3  T C 4  T D2  T E3  T 2
Parameters of the setting.
where g1 is the predicted average; T is overall experimental aver-
Control Factors Symbols Fixed parameters age; A2 ; B3 ; C 4 ; D2 and E3 is the mean response for factors at desig-
Velocity of impact Factor A Erodent Silica sand nated levels.
Fiber loading Factor B Erodent feed rate (g/min) 10.0 1.0 By combining like-terms, the equation reduces to
Impingement angle Factor C Nozzle diameter (mm) 3
Stand-off distance Factor D Length of nozzle (mm) 80 g1 A2 B3 C 4 D2 E3  4T 3
Erodent size Factor E
A new combination of factor levels A2, B3, C4, D2 and E3 is used to
predict wear rate through prediction equation and it is found to be
Table 3 72.58 db.
Levels for various control factors. The calculated predictive average values are compared with the
experimental results and error associated with arbitrary set is
Control factor Level
shown in Table 6. The percentage errors (4.89%) are within the tol-
I II III IV Units
erance limit (in a condence of 95%) and therefore model is
A: Velocity of impact 43 54 65 76 m/s seemed to be capable of predicting erosion rate to a reasonable
B: Fiber loading 20 30 40 50 %
accuracy. However, the error can be further reduced if the number
C: Impingement angle 30 45 60 90 C
D: Stand-off distance 55 65 75 85
of experimental runs is increased. It validates this mathematical
E: Erodent size 250 355 420 600 lm model for predicting the measures of performance based on
knowledge of the input parameters.

parameter levels. In conventional full factorial experiment design, 3.3. Erosion behavior by one variable at a time (OVAT) approach
it would require 45 = 1024 runs to study ve parameters each at
four levels whereas, Taguchi orthogonal arrays approach reduces In OVAT approach one factor varies and other variables are xed
it to only 16 runs offering great advantage in terms of experimental to study the erosion behavior of hybrid composites. In our previous
254 S. Kumar et al. / Computational Materials Science 60 (2012) 250260

Table 4
Experimental design using L16 orthogonal array.

Expt. Velocity of impact Fiber loading Impingement angle Stand-off distance Erodent size Erosion rate (Er) S/N ratio
No. (m/s) (%) () (mm) (lm) (104 g/g) (db)
1 43 20 30 55 250 1.509375 76.4241
2 43 30 45 65 355 1.135938 78.8929
3 43 40 60 75 420 0.912500 80.7953
4 43 50 90 85 600 0.564063 84.9735
5 54 20 45 75 600 1.614062 75.8416
6 54 30 30 85 420 2.573438 71.7897
7 54 40 90 55 355 1.996875 73.9930
8 54 50 60 65 250 3.443750 69.2594
9 65 20 60 85 355 5.340625 65.4482
10 65 30 90 75 250 3.301563 69.6256
11 65 40 30 65 600 3.939063 68.0921
12 65 50 45 55 420 4.281250 67.3686
13 76 20 90 65 420 4.029687 67.8946
14 76 30 60 55 600 4.431250 67.0695
15 76 40 45 85 250 8.915625 60.9970
16 76 50 30 75 355 8.168750 61.7569

Fig. 7. Effect of control factors on erosion rate.

Table 5
ANOVA table for erosion rate.

Source DF Seq SS Adj SS Adj MS F P

Velocity of impact (m/sec) 3 553.63 553.63 553.63 185.8 0.000
Fiber loading (wt.%) 3 1.31 1.31 1.31 0.44 0.522
Impingement angle (Degree) 3 43.02 43.02 43.02 14.44 0.003
Stand-off distance (mm) 3 0.01 0.01 0.01 0 0.947
Erodent size (lm) 3 55.03 55.03 55.03 18.47 0.002
Error 0 29.8 29.8 2.98
Total 15 682.81

work [16] it was observed that the impingement angle, impact
velocity and erodent size have a signicant effect on the erosion
rate of composites. Therefore, these variables vary and others are
xed to calculate the effect of striking of solid particle on the com-
posites. The steady state erosion was determined in a similar way
as done in previous published work [16].
3.3.1. Inuence of impingement angle
Impingement angle is one of the most important parameters in
erosive wear analysis. Fig. 8 shows the inuence of impingement
angle on the steady-state erosion rate of hybrid composites at a
constant impact velocity of 54 m/s, erodent size of 355 lm and
stand-off distance of 65 mm, respectively. It can be seen that
 S. Kumar et al. / Computational Materials Science 60 (2012) 250260 255

Table 6 8
Results of the conrmation experiments for erosion rate.

Optimal control parameters 7

VGC20
Prediction Experimental VGC30

-4
6

Erosion rate (Er)*10

VGC40
Level A2B3C2D1E3 A2B3C2D1E3
VGC50
S/N ratio for Erosion rate (db) 72.58 69.03
5

4
steady-state erosion rate is maximum at 45 impingement angle
for all the composites irrespective of the bre weight fraction. All 3
the composites show different behavior after 60 impingement an-
gle. In the literature, materials are broadly classied as ductile or 2
brittle, based on the dependence of their erosion rate with
1
impingement angle. Barkoula and Karger-Kocsis [30] reported in
detail the material description and materials classication as ero-
40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
sive wear behavior strongly depends on the experimental condi- Impact velocity (m/s)
tions and the composition of the target material. The neat vinyl
ester resin, a relatively ductile matrix however, showed a peak ero- Fig. 9. Effect of impingement angle on the erosion wear rate of the composites (at
sion rate at 60o impingement angle [16]. Also in the present study constant impact velocity: 54 m/s, stand-off distance: 65 mm and erodent size:
short carbon/glass bres were used as reinforcement for the vinyl 355 lm).

ester resin matrix, which are typically give a mixed nature of brit-
tle and ductile materials. Hence, erosion peak comes in these hy-
brid composites at impingement angle of 45 and again at 90
impingement angle, the erosion rate further increases to a smaller
extent as compared with 45 impingement angle. Overall, compos-
ites having 20 and 30 wt.% short carbon/glass bre content (VGC20
and VGC30) in the matrix shows better erosion resistance as com-
pared to other investigated composites at all impact angle. Hence,
erosion rate depends on the matrix material, bre content and type
of bre used in the composite. Composite having 40 wt.% ber con-
tent (VGC40) shows poor erosion resistance as compared to other
composites. To characterize the morphology of eroded surfaces
and the mode of material removal, the eroded samples are ob-
served under scanning electron microscope.
3.3.2. Inuence of impact velocity
The erosion tests are performed by varying the impact velocity
in the range of 43 to 76 m/s and bre loading varying from 20 to
50 wt.% at constant impingement angle (60), stand-off distance
(65 mm) and erodent size (355 lm). As observed in Fig. 9, wear
rates of the hybrid composites increased with increase in at higher
impact velocity conforming to the theoretical expectations.
Particles have a higher kinetic energy at higher velocity causing
greater impingement effect and results in enhanced erosion rate.
Composite having 30 wt.% ber content (VGC30) shows better ero-
sion resistance as compared to other investigated composites.
3.3.3. Inuence of erodent size
From Fig. 10 it is observed that the erosion rate of the hybrid
composites decreases with increase in erodent size from 250 lm
to 600 lm at constant impact velocity (54 m/s), stand-off distance
(65 mm) and impingement angle (60). It is also observed from lit-
erature that the silica sand have a different composition depending
on their climatic conditions [31]. The decrease in the erosion rate
with the increase in the erodent size may be attributed to lighter
solid silica sand particles (low density) while the smaller silica
sand particles are heavy in weight (higher density). For example,
if iron/Ca/Mg/Mn oxide content increase, the weight of sand parti-
cle increases and eroded more surface causing enhancement of
erosive wear rate. Firstly, with the decrease in the mass of the ero-
dent particle the momentum with which the particle hits the com-
posite target is decreased causing decreased indentation damage
to the target and secondly, the repeated impact of such particles
can break down into smaller erodent particle sizes and the effect
of this is lesser.

Fig. 10. Effect of impact velocity on the erosion wear rate of the composites (at
Fig. 8. Effect of erodent size on the erosion wear rate of the composites (at constant constant impingement angle: 60, stand-off distance: 65 mm and erodent size:
impact velocity: 54 m/s, impingement angle: 60 and stand-off distance: 65 mm). 355 lm).
256 S. Kumar et al. / Computational Materials Science 60 (2012) 250260

3.4. Wear surface morphology
Fig. 11 shows the SEM microphotographs of hybrid composites
eroded at various impingement angles where maximum wear
was observed at an impingement angle of 45. Eroded surface
investigations in general thermoset composites revealed that
erosion is a complex process involving matrix micro-cracking, ber
matrix debonding, ber breakage and material removal [6]. Fibers
in composites, subjected to particle ow, break in bending. The
particle ow is clearly observed in Fig. 11a, d and e as indicated
by arrow. Erosion along the ber and clean removal of the matrix
to expose bers was also seen in Fig. 11b. The micrograph of

Fig. 11. SEM microphotograph of 30 wt.% composites at different impact angle.

 S. Kumar et al. / Computational Materials Science 60 (2012) 250260
Fig. 11b, revealed that the impact of erodents onto the matrix ren-
ders the matrix prone to breakage via the formation of transverse-
cracks in bres. These cracks are primarily caused by bending due
to the impact of erodents onto the unsupported ber. The matrix
showed numerous fractures and material removal. The exposed -
bers were broken into fragments and this can be easily removed
from the worn surface. The indentation of sand particle in the
composites involved compressive stresses and resistance to mi-
cro-bending is very high. Thus, there is a local removal of matrix
materials from the impacted surface; this results in the exposure
of the bers as shown in Fig. 11a and d. At 45 impingement angle,
Fig. 11c and d shows the dominance of micro-cutting and micro-
ploughing associated with plastic deformation due to tangential
force. This mechanism is responsible for peak erosion of composites
at 45 (Fig. 8). It was concluded that inclusion of glass ber in addi-
tion to carbon ber in a vinyl ester resin results in shifting of the
peak erosion angle to lower side (45). A characteristic feature of
more cutting and chipping of underlying layer during erosion was
observed in Fig. 11c. The erosion rate of CF/VE composites [16] is
higher compared to CF/GF-VE hybrid composites. This difference
is may be attributed to the ber-matrix interface properties and
hybrid effect of CF and GF in the composite. The indentation of
particles into the brittle GF results in increased ber fracture in
composites. It can be concluded that the effective removal of wear
Fig. 12. SEM micrograph of 30 wt.% of composites at different velocity (at constant impingement angle: 600, stand-off distance: 65 mm and erodent size: 355 lm).
257
debris and increase in ber-matrix debonding due to tangential
force should be responsible for peak erosion in the composites at
45 impact angle [32]. Fig. 11e shows that the ber breaks trans-
versely to the ow direction and removed by the particle ow. High
interfacial stresses are generated by particle impact causing inten-
sive debonding and breakage of bers, which are not supported by
the matrix act as an adhesive for bers (Fig. 11f). The continuous
impact of sand particle on the bers breaks the bers because of
the formation of cracks perpendicular to the ber length [33]. At
a higher impingement angle i.e. at 75, the multiple ber cracking
was observed and plastic deformation taking place in the matrix
as observed in Fig. 11g and h, respectively. The impacted particle
energy breaks the ber with multiple cracks formed and thus low-
ers the erosive wear rate. At a normal impact, kinetic energy of par-
ticles is dissipated in micro-cracking of bers and matrix plastic
deformation. In case of composites, the bers are fractured into
the small fragments and the ber debris embedded in the plasti-
cally deformed matrix and thus kept for the longer time on the
eroded surface. The amount of the ber debris embedded in the de-
formed matrix is less compared to that at normal incidence. Thus
the peak erosion occurs at 45 for all the hybrid composites
(Fig. 8). The erosive wear is dominated by extensive plastic
deformation and propagation of multiple cracks in all the directions
by repeated impact as shown in Fig. 11i and j. Such a damage
258 S. Kumar et al. / Computational Materials Science 60 (2012) 250260

Fig. 13. SEM micrograph of 30 wt.% of composites at different erodent size (at constant impact velocity: 54 m/s, impingement angle: 60 and stand-off distance: 65 mm).

viewed simultaneously. The deeper pit was formed at 90 impinge-

Erosion rate (Er)

5 50
ment angle due to repeated impact on the same surface and ber
4
damage resulting from repetitive micro-ploughing was clearly ob-
3 40 served. The experimental erosion rate at 90 impingement angle
2 was lower than that at 45 (Fig. 8), therefore it is assumed that
the ductile damage was maintained at the impact angle of 90,
FWHM ( C)

1 30
and it could prevent the ber fractions. In case of impingement an-
Tan Brittlenes (B)

gle of 45, the cracks seemed to extend quickly, causing the ber
0.03
20
o

bunch to fracture together. Therefore, the removed ber fragments

o

0.02
Er@45 -impingement angel were much larger than in other impingement angles.
Er@54-impact velocity
Er@355m-erodent size On the other hand, according to the properties supplied by the
o
Tan@30 C
10
0.01 o
B@30 C(%Pa/10 )
10 ber manufacture, although the tensile strength of CF was slightly
o
FWHM of E''( C) higher than that of GF, the percent elongation of GF (4.8%) was
0.00 0 much higher than CF (1.4%), indicating the much greater ductility
20 30 40 50 of GF. The absorbed energy in a fracture of GF was higher as com-
Fiber Fraction (wt.%) pared to CF in composites [34]. This may attribute to the up and
down of erosion peak in composites with impingement angle.
Fig. 14. Correlation of erosion rate (Er) with brittleness and FWHM of loss modulus
of glass bre and carbon bre (1:1) reinforced vinyl ester resin based hybrid
The higher the composite toughness allows substantial plastic
composites. deformation, which absorbs large amount of impact energy.
It is obvious that as the impact velocity increases, the kinetic
energy of the particles also increases. Erodent particles with high
process does not lead to effective removal of materials and thus kinetic energy, which are impinging the composite surface, cause
lowers the erosion rate. It was expected that several impacts are re- more fracture of the ber resulting in the increased erosion rate.
quired for material removal in a ductile polymer matrix. The extent Fig. 12 shows the SEM micrographs to explain the effect of velocity
of plastic deformation, however, decreased as impact angle de- on the erosive wear of composites. With the increasing of velocity,
creased from 90 to 30. Not only at the lower but also at the higher the sand particle can penetrate the surface of the composites and
impact angles, both the ductile damage and the brittle cracks were cause material removal by micro-cutting or micro-ploughing.
 S. Kumar et al. / Computational Materials Science 60 (2012) 250260
Fig. 13a and b shows that the matrix covering the bers seems
to be chipped off due to repeated impact of sand particles of smal-
ler size and thus craters formed on the composite surface. After lo-
cal removal of matrix this array of bers is exposed to erosive
environment. The broken bers are mixed with matrix micro-ake
debris and the damage of the composite is characterized by sepa-
ration and detachment of this debris. When particle size increases
the damage is less due to the less impacting momentum of light
sand particle indicated by Fig. 13cf. The observed erosion damage
is characterized by exposure of bers, ber-matrix debonding,
multiple ber cracking and material removal. Plastic deformation,
pit formation, degradation of matrix and dislodging of bers are
also observed on the surface of composites.
3.5. Damping correlations to erosive performance
The steady state erosion behaviour as a function of impingement
angle, impact velocity and erodent sizes has revealed that short
glass/carbon bre reinforced hybrid vinyl ester resin based compos-
ites show maximum erosion resistance at an impingement angle of
45, impact velocity of 54 m/s, erodent size of 355 lm and bre con-
tent of 30 wt.% (i.e.VGC30). Such optimization of the factors for wear
minimization is also evident from the viscoelastic loss response
based correlation plot showing erosive wear rate versus full-
width-half-maxima (FWHM) of the loss-modulus (E00 ) peak, tan d
and brittleness (B) as a function of bre content (Fig. 14). The corre-
lation revealed a striking resemblance in the trend of the erosion
resistance and FWHM dependence on the bre content irrespective
of the optimum impingement angle, impact velocity and erodent
size. Theoretically, a lower FWHM value with respect to loss-modu-
lus peak shows a better relaxation dynamics [35,36]. Theoretically,
the correspondence between FWHM and homogeneity of amor-
phous phase is well established. Qualitatively, lower magnitude of
FWHM indicates a larger relaxation time distribution of the poly-
mer-network involved and thereby leads to a higher inhomogeneity
of the amorphous phase, an aspect which is also evident from the
nature of the ColeCole plot and Wicket plot [26,37]. Therefore, fun-
damentally, a broader loss-modulus peak with more inhomogeneity
of the amorphous phase characterized by FWHM has a direct bearing
on erosion of materials. Comprehensively, this reveals a fundamen-
tal interrelationship between more heterogeneous loss-behavior
with enhanced relaxation response and erosion performance of
the hybrid composites. The brittleness index (B) may be calculated
according to the equation: B eb E0 1 , where eb is the tensile elon-
gation-at-break and E0 is the storage modulus at reference tempera-
ture (30 C). The variation of B with erosion rate is shown in Fig. 14.
The physical signicance of B lies in its correspondence to the
dimensional stability of the material [38,39]. From Fig. 14 it was ob-
served that a lower B value leads to higher stability as observed in
30 wt.% lled glass/carbon short-bre reinforced vinyl ester hybrid
composites. Irrespective of the broad correspondence between brit-
tleness and erosion a larger deviation at higher ber loading
(4050 wt.%) has been observed in striking contrast to the correla-
tion between erosion and FWHM. Such deviations may be attributed
to the loss of self-similarity of resulting erosion rate curves of bre
reinforced hybrid polymer composites. Brittleness is typically eval-
uated for the thermoplastic polymer materials such as in PP/EPDM
blends and in thermoplastic vulcanizates. The exponential correla-
tion between the sliding wear/extent of modulus recovery is
reported in literature [40].
4. Conclusions
The thermo-mechanical characterization and the air jet solid
particle erosion wear performance of uniform mixture of short
259
glass and carbon bre (1:1) reinforced vinyl ester resin hybrid
composites have been evaluated. It was observed from this study
that the hybrid composite with 40 wt.% of glass and carbon bre
exhibited higher storage modulus in the temperature range of 0
80 C, whereas above 80 C the storage modulus shows a sharp de-
cline till 140 C. The same composite also has shown maxima in the
loss-modulus and tan d indicating enhanced energy dissipation
ability of the hybrid composite with 40 wt.% of bres. The steady
state erosion rate assessment as a function of impingement angle,
impact velocity and erodent sizes has revealed that the erosive
wear resistance enhancement of short glass/carbon bre reinforced
vinyl ester resin based hybrid composites may be accomplished by
resorting to an impingement angle of 45, impact velocity of 54 m/
s, erodent size of 355 lm and bre content of 30 wt.% (VGC30) in
the composite. Such an optimization of the hybrid composites for
wear minimization may also be evident from the viscoelastic loss
behavior related correlation plot showing erosive wear rate versus
full-width-half-maxima (FWHM) of the loss-modulus (E00 ) peak,
tan d and brittleness (B) as a function of bre concentration. The
ColeCole plots of the hybrid composites showed an imperfect
semicircle, which shows the heterogenity of the system and good
interfacial adhesion between different hybrid congurations. From
conrmation experiment it is observed that the percentage error
(4.89%) is within the tolerance limit (in a condence of 95%) and
therefore Taguchi model seemed to be capable of predicting
erosion rate to a reasonable accuracy.
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