Investigation of Slurry Erosion Behaviour of Glass Fiber Polymer Reinforced Composites

Abstract

Investigation of erosion behaviour of fiber reinforced composite (GRPs) materials is a significant research problem. Erosion wear is a major cause of failure of mechanical components especially in pipelines applications, such as the oil and gas industry, water transportation, industrial drainage, etc. The present work is undertaken to study the development, characterization and erosion wear performance of polyester resin reinforced with E-glass woven fiber. Focus will be on glass fiber reinforcements as the major type of fiber materials due to cost efficiency and high mechanical properties. In order to perform the desired study, first a detailed literature review was performed to investigate the different types of resins, reinforcement fibers, erosion test machines, and test conditions available for FRPs. Full design calculations, manufacturing steps and CAD drawing of the tester were performed to ensure the required functionality of tests Slurry erosion testing was chosen as the most relevant type of study for the above-mentioned applications. A slurry erosion tester was designed and manufactured this work to allow the investigation of the erosion behaviour of chosen material using silica sand of 500μm as erodent at different impact angles 30, 45, 60 and 90 at constant test duration of 1.5 hours. Moreover; erosion test was performed at different distances between nozzle and tested material at 3, 6, 10, 12 cm with the same test duration. . Erosion test was performed on the samples at different impact velocity of 10, 13,16,18,20 m/sec. Erosion test was performed in each parameter with repetition factor equals 4.