Development of epoxy/red stone dust composites and their characterization for light duty structural and automotive applications

The present work studies the processing and characterisation of waste red-stone dust/epoxy composites to achieve an environmentally friendly material. Samples are prepared for a range of 0–40 wt. % of red stone dust (RSD) having a particle size between 3 and 4 microns. The developed materials are studied for their physical, mechanical and sliding wear properties. The micrographs of the filler and composites and filler elemental composition are investigated. The density of the epoxy increases with RSD content and the water uptake rate. The best tensile and flexural strength is reported as 29.7 and 35.4 MPa, respectively, for 20 wt. % RSD. The modulus value improves with RSD content due to increased stiffness, which also reduces percentage elongation. The maximum modulus is 4763 and 4019 MPa for tensile and flexural loading, respectively, whereas, the percentage elongation is reduced to 0.86%. The compressive strength and hardness show an interesting increment of 29.5% and 16.1%, respectively. The sliding wear characteristics were studied by performing the experiment designed as per the L25 orthogonal array suggested by Taguchi’s design of the experiment method. The analysis detected that the RSD loading influenced the specific wear rate the most, whereas normal load was the least influential factor. A model utilizing an artificial neural network is employed to envisage the specific wear rate at a broader range of parameters. The worn surface morphologies are analyzed to determine the wear mechanisms of the developed material under various situations.