On the effect of abrasiveness to process equipment using betelnut and glass fibres reinforced polyester composites

Tool wear reduction is very important to the machining of fibre reinforced polymeric composites due to the hardness and abrasive nature of synthetic fibres. In this work, the impact of abrasiveness of treated betelnut fibre reinforced polyester (T-BFRP) composite on the wear of processing tools is evaluated against that of chopped strand mat glass fibres (CSM-GFRP). It was observed that the predominant wear mechanism of the T-BFRP composite was plastic deformation and fibre detachment. As for CSM-GFRP composite, there was high amount of fractured polyester and presence third body abrasive particles. T-BFRP composite caused less damage on the testing equipment compared to the CSM-GFRP composite, with surface roughness of the stainless steel counterface being lower by about 5%.

► Impact of abrasiveness using natural and synthetic fibres composite was studied.
► Counterface surface roughness was high when subjected to glass fibre composites.
► Glass fibre composites showed high damage feature on the cutting blade saw.
► Natural fibre composites revealed low damage to processing equipments.