UNRAVELLING THE TRIBOLOGICAL BEHAVIOUR OF MERCERIZED COCONUT INFLORESCENCE FIBER FORTIFIED UNSATURATED POLYESTER COMPOSITES

The need for eco-friendly materials made researchers move towards lignocellulose fibres as potential fortification materials for polymer matrices. In this regard, a unique fibre known as the coconut inflorescence fiber was extricated from the coconut tree and added to unsaturated polyester resin. As the fibres are subjected to mercerization treatment, XRD and FTIR studies show that the amorphous materials present in the fibers are removed, and the tensile strength of the fibre increases. For the tribology studies of the CIF/polyester composite, the load and sliding distance were chosen as the operation parameters under dry-sliding condition. Extensive testing demonstrated that the wear rate increases as the load increases, and it is reduced as the fiber volume faction increases. Due to the hardness of the composite materials, the wear rate decreases as the sliding distance rises. The composites with fiber volume fraction 25 % exhibit the minimum wear rate of the entire experimentation. Furthermore, the friction coefficient drops as the load and sliding distance increase with the increasing volume fraction, which is due to micro-melting generated by the frictional heat at greater loads. A SEM analysis revealed fiber pull-outs in composites with fiber volume fraction 30 %, owing to a lack of fibril wetting during the manufacturing of composites.