Experimental investigation of fatigue, creep and tribological performance of aloe vera-, corn-, eucalyptus-, and soybean natural fiber-based bio composites

In present work, tribology tests were enacted to analyze the wear behavior of composite reinforced with Aloe vera, Corn, Eucalyptus and Soybean Fiber and Epoxy resin. Fatigue and creep tests were accomplished to evaluate the strength of prepared composite specimen under fluctuating and static load conditions. Tribological analysis revealed that hybrid composites achieved higher frictional force as compared to single fiber-based composites. Hybrid ACESE composite exhibits maximum frictional force of 14.01 N, 35.78 N and 37.46 N at 10, 30 and 50 N load for 5 m/s sliding speed as compared to other prepared composite specimens. COF of prepared composite samples were calculated at different sliding speeds (3, 5 and 7 m/s) and applied load of 10, 30 and 50 N load. Hybrid ACESE composite shows maximum value of COF at 10, 30 and 50 N load for 3, 5 and 7 m/s sliding speed. Sliding speed (3, 5 and 7 m/s) with respect to applied load (10, 30 and 50 N) shows the variations in specific wear rate (SWR) for all prepared specimens. During tribological analysis, higher frictional force achieved by hybrid ACESE composite exhibits the highest value of interfacial temperature at 5 m/s sliding speed for 10, 30 and 50 N applied load. While the lower value of frictional force achieved by CE composite displays the lowest value of interfacial temperature at 5 m/s sliding speed for 10, 30 and 50 N applied load. The fatigue test illustrated that hybrid ACESE composite attained the highest fatigue number of cycles at 3822, 3217 and 2218 for 25, 50 and 75% UTS. While CE composites resulted in the lowest fatigue number of cycles at 2234, 1826, and 1219 for 25, 50 and 75% UTS among all prepared specimens.