Polyester/Kota Stone Dust Composite: A Comprehensive Investigation of Mechanical and Sliding Wear Properties.

In the Kota stone industries, a huge quantity of unwanted waste is generated during the process of manufacturing stone. This waste is generally in the form of minute particles that are dumped on nearby land and carried away by water and air causing pollution in air, water, and soil. The most appropriate way is to convert this waste into a useful product. The present work comprises of fabrication and characterization of a new class of polymer composite with polyester as the base matrix and micro-sized Kota stone dust as filler material. A series of composites are fabricated at varied contents of micro-sized particulates using the open molding method. The properties explored are mechanical properties and sliding wear properties as a function of filler loading. It is noticed from the experimentation that the inclusion of filler material improves the different mechanical properties of the composites. The hardness of the composite along with the compressive strength improve by 25.37 % and 13.78 % respectively when 40 wt. % of the Kota stone dust is added to the polyester resin. The maximum hardness obtained is 84.2 Shore-D number and the maximum compressive strength of 109.2 MPa is registered. For a filler loading of 30 wt. %, the highest value of tensile strength is 66.2 MPa and that of flexural strength is 73.2 MPa is registered. The sliding wear tests are conducted as per Taguchi's design of experiment following the L25 orthogonal array. It is observed that the Kota stone dust loading is the utmost significant factor, whereas normal load is the least significant factor that administrates the sliding wear rate. The wear loss mechanism is observed under a scanning electron microscope by studying the eroded surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]