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An experimental study to determine the wear behaviour of Agave fibre reinforced epoxy composites (AFEC) has been conducted. Epoxy composites reinforced with Agave fibres of length 3, 5 and 7 mm namely were prepared by hand lay up and open mould technique. Wear behaviour of the composite was responsive to varied load, fibre length and sliding velocity. Observations of this experiment exposed that, AFEC3 has a good degree of wear behaviour when sliding against the stainless steel. The worn surfaces and wreckage were observed under scanning electron microscope. Finally, microscopic observation indicated that the AFEC3 has the ability to have a fairly good bonding with the epoxy matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Composites based on short Agave fibres (untreated and alkali treated) reinforced epoxy resin using three different fibre lengths (3mm, 7mm and 10mm length) are prepared by using hand lay up and compression mould technique. The materials were characterized in terms of tensile, compressive, flexural, impact, water absorption properties and machinability behaviour. All mechanical tests showed that alkali treated fibre composites withstand more fracture strain than untreated fibre composites. As evidenced by the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) tests, the thermo-mechanical properties of the composite with alkali treated Agave fibre were considerably good as alkali treatment had facilitated more sites of fibre resin interface. The machinability and atomic force microscope (AFM) studies were carried out to analyze the fibre–matrix interaction in untreated and alkali treated Agave fibre–epoxy composites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]