Mechanical and wear behavior of vinyl ester-carbon/cement by-pass dust particulate filled homogeneous and their functionally graded composites

Abstract The paper presents the processing, mechanical and sliding wear characterization of particulate filled cement by-pass dust and carbon fiber (fixed) reinforced homogeneous and functionally graded vinyl ester composites. Homogeneous and graded composites are fabricated by simple mechanical stirring and vertical centrifugal casting technique, respectively. Among the physical and mechanical properties, void content, hardness and impact strength are found to increase with increase in filler content in case of functionally graded materials (FGMs), whereas tensile strength and flexural strength are found to deteriorate for both FGMs and homogeneous composites as compared to the neat composites. Sliding wear characteristics are studied with the help of pin-on-disc test employing the design of experiments approach based on Taguchi’s orthogonal arrays. The present study reveals that graded composites exhibit good mechanical and wear characteristics compared to homogeneous composites. Scanning electron microscopy confirms the dispersion of carbon fiber in the matrix in graded composites.