Study of Friction and Wear of ABS/Zno Polymer Composite Using Taguchi Technique

The present study considers the tribological behavior of polymer composite material prepared using acrylonitrile-butadiene- styrene (ABS) as the base material and micron-sized zinc oxide (ZnO) as the filler. The experiment is carried out in dry condition on block-on-roller multi-tribotester (DUCOM) in room temperature based on Taguchi‟s L27 orthogonal array (OA). Filler content, normal load and sliding speed are considered as the design parameter and coefficient of friction and specific wear rate are considered as the responses. The optimal combination of parameter for minimum friction coefficient and wear rate is determined using Taguchi technique. The optimal parameter combination for minimum coefficient of friction (COF) is found as 5 wt% filler, 35 N load and 120 rpm speed and lowest specific wear rate is obtained at the filler content of 15 wt%, load of 35 N and speed of 120 rpm. Further, analysis of variance (ANOVA) is applied to investigate the influence of design parameter on the coefficient of friction (COF) and specific wear rate of the polymer composite. The results show that the friction coefficient and specific wear rate are significantly influenced by the increase of filler content, load and speed. The most influential factor which affects the tribological properties is normal load followed by filler content and speed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations are also carried out to identify the wear mechanisms for the worn surfaces at optimal parameter combination.