Synergy of wood ash on mechanical and sliding wear properties of banana/walnut-based epoxy composites and optimisation with grey relational analysis

This study investigates the sliding wear characteristics of wood ash-based banana/walnut reinforced epoxy composites using the hand layup technique. This research investigates the impact of wood ash on composites to obtain excellent wear resistance and moderate mechanical properties, which can be utilised in various engineering applications. As the percentage of wood ash increases in the composites, the tensile strength and hardness of the composites increase, but the impact energy declines marginally. The sliding wear test is carried out on a dry sliding wear test machine (pin-on-disc). The Grey-Taguchi method and optimal factor settings are used to evaluate the multiple responses of composites. The results showed that the most critical factor influencing the properties of composites is wood ash content (41%), accompanied by sliding velocity (35%), and lastly, the normal load (24%). Scanning electron microscopy was used to analyse the composites' worn surfaces to investigate the potential wear mechanism.