Experimental Investigation of Tribology, Interfacial Temperature, Surface Roughness, and Morphological Analysis of Bio-Composites

Emerging technologies are growing rapidly day by day in numerous engineering applications. This rapid growth in technology in various applications demands some sustainable materials such as bio-composites. The present study explores different kenaf fiber mat-reinforced thermoplastic composites as a new tribo-material. Three geometrically different types of kenaf mats (unidirectional, bidirectional, and randomly oriented) were incorporated in a polymer (PLA — polylactic acid) for the development of bio-composites by compression molding. In tribological analysis, composite samples were investigated under dry contact condition with selected parameter’s range such as sliding speed (1–3 m/s), applied load (10–40 N), and sliding distance (1000–3000 m). Effect of applied load on the interface temperature of the composites at different loads of 10–40 N is also discussed. Experimental results show that the reinforcement of kenaf fiber in neat PLA improved the tribological properties of developed kenaf fiber reinforcement composites compared to neat PLA. Among all the developed composites, randomly oriented kenaf fiber mat-reinforced composites accomplished the highest frictional force, coefficient of friction, and specific wear rate. The morphology of the sample after the tribological test was studied under scanning electron microscopy (SEM).