Influence of Fiber Orientation on High Stress Wear
Behavior of Sisal Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Composites
Navin Chand, U.K. Dwivedi
Polymer Composite Division, Regional Research Laboratory (CSIR), Habibganj Naka, Bhopal-462026, India
Sisal fiber-reinforced epoxy composites having three
different fiber orientations, namely LL, LT, TT mentioned
in the text were prepared and tested for their high stress
abrasive wear behavior. Effect of fiber orientation, slid-
ing distance, and load on abrasive wear of sisal– epoxy
composites have been determined. Wear data of com-
posites have been compared with the pure epoxy. Incor-
poration of fibers decreases the wear rate of epoxy
resin, which varies with the fiber orientation. Wear rate in
case of TT composite is found minimum as compared to
other two composites. Wear rate follows the following
trend, WTT < WLT < WLL. Owing to minimum exposed
area of fiber to the sliding asperities, lowest wear rate
occurs in the case of TT composite. Increase of load and
sliding distance increases the wear volume in all the
composites, because of the progressive loss of material.
Wear mechanism has been discussed by using SEM
micrographs of the worn surfaces. POLYM. COMPOS., 28:
437– 441, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers
INTRODUCTION
Polymer composites are well known for their excellent
combination of mechanical, electrical, and chemical prop-
erties. Polymers are used extensively in building application
such as flooring materials, because they are resistant to
abrasion, low heat conduction, low water absorption, and
sufficient hardness and strength. Sisal fiber-reinforced com-
posites are attractive because of their low cost, non-carci-
nogenic nature, availability, and high specific strength.
These advantages are of interest to the industries, which
require materials of light weight, high performance to
weight ratio, recycling possibilities, and minimum environ-
mental impact [1, 2]. Properties of natural fiber composites
are influenced by fiber loading, dispersion, orientation, and
fiber to matrix interface [3]. Natural fibers such as sisal and
jute are naturally occurring composites containing cellulose
fibrils embedded in lignin matrix. These cellulosic fibrils are
aligned along the length of the fiber irrespective of its
origin. Such an alignment leads to maximum tensile
Correspondence to: Navin Chand; e-mail: navinchand15@indiainfo.com
DOI 10.1002/pc.20286
Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
© 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers
POLYMER COMPOSITES—2007
strength and provides rigidity in that direction of the fiber.
A sisal fiber has 70% cellulose and 12.5 ␮m cell wall
thickness [1]. Mechanical properties of sisal fiber polyester
system have been thoroughly characterized in the past
[4 – 6]. Recently, Chand and Dwivedi [7] have studied the
abrasive wear behavior of jute–polypropylene composites.
They found that the maleic anhydride-grafted polypro-
pylene improved the wear properties of jute–polypropylene
composites. In another paper, Hashmi et al. [8] investigated
the sliding wear behavior of cotton–polyester composites
and obtained better wear properties on addition of cotton
reinforcement. Tong et al. [9] studied the abrasive wear
behavior of bamboo and reported that the abrasive resis-
tance of a bamboo stem is affected by the vascular bundle
fiber orientation with respect to the abrading surface and the
abrasive particle size. Abrasive depth of bamboo decreases
with the decrease in size of abrasive particles. They also
reported that the abrasion resistance of surface layer was
more than the inner layer. Shim et al. [10] recently reported
the effects of fiber orientation humidity on friction and wear
properties of graphite fiber-reinforced composites and dis-
covered that the differences in friction and wear behavior of
specimens with different fiber orientations are mainly due to
the anisotropic properties present in the microstructure of
oriented graphite crystals of the carbon fiber and the mac-
rostructure of fiber orientation in the matrix. Eleiche and
Amin [11] reported the effect of unidirectional cotton fiber
reinforcement on the friction and sliding wear characteris-
tics of polyester with varying sliding speed, fiber volume
fraction, and fiber orientation. Chand and Neogi [12] inves-
tigated the wear behavior of woven glass fiber-reinforced
polyester composites and found that the wear behavior
depends on fiber orientation. Lhymn et al. [13] reported that
the wear rate is sensitive to the orientation of the fiber axis
with respect to the sliding direction for short glass fiber-
reinforced polyester composites. Acceptance of sisal– epoxy
composite in various engineering applications is possible if
tribological properties of these materials are thoroughly
investigated. There is no evidence in the literature on the
abrasive wear performance of sisal fiber composites in
different directions. Wear properties of sisal fiber-rein-
forced composite in different directions would have an
 Weight loss was measured after each set of 100 cycles. The
abrasive wear rate (W) was calculated using weight-loss
measurements and the following formula [14]:

W ⫽ V/ ␳ D

where ␳ is the density of the sisal composite, V is the weight

loss and D is the sliding distance.

FIG. 1. Schematic diagram of three fiber orientations in composite. (a)

Longitudinal fiber alignment with respect to sliding direction of sample
SEM Study
designated as LL. (b) Transverse fiber alignment with respect to sliding Worn surfaces of sisal epoxy composites were observed
direction of sample designated as LT. (c) Normal fiber alignment with
respect to sliding direction of sample designated as TT.
by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) model
JEOL 35 CF. Surface of samples were gold coated before
observing the surfaces.
advantage in utilization of sisal fiber epoxy composites. In
this paper, effect of sisal fiber orientation, sliding distance,
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
and applied load on the abrasive wear properties of sisal
reinforced epoxy composite has been determined and dis- Variation of the wear rate with applied load for pure
cussed. PSEP and different directionally oriented sisal fiber-rein-
forced epoxy composites are shown in Fig. 2. This figure
shows the variation of wear rate at different applied loads
EXPERIMENTAL
for normal fiber direction to the wear direction (TT), trans-
verse fiber direction (LT), and longitudinal fiber direction
Materials and Methods (LL) orientated sisal fiber– epoxy composites and pure ep-
oxy sample. Wear rate increased with the load in all exper-
The thermosetting resin used in this study was a room
imented composites. As the normal load increases on the
temperature cure polysulphide-modified epoxy resin
abrasives, load is distributed over a large number of asper-
(PSEP), which was obtained from Choksey Chemicals Pvt.
ities. Each asperity penetrates deeper into the sample sur-
Ltd., India. The density of the epoxy resin, cured at room
face and gives increased wear rate. Slope of curves are
temperature, was 1.15 g/cm3. Sisal fibers used in this study
different for different samples. This is because of the dif-
were of commercial grade and were obtained from Bilaspur,
ference in wear mechanism and size of debris, which comes
India. Composites were prepared by using resin to hardener
out during abrasion. Epoxy sample exhibits brittle fracture
ratio as 2:1. Sisal fibers were arranged in the desired direc-
while sisal fiber–reinforced epoxy composite exhibits re-
tion with epoxy in a mold to prepare the desired direction
duction in fragmentation. Addition of sisal fibers improved
composites. Compression molding process was used to pre-
the abrasive wear resistance of composites due to the cel-
pare samples at 4 MPa pressure. The weight ratio of epoxy
to sisal fiber in the composite was from 20 to 80. Density of
composite was found to be 1.285 g/cm3. Schematic diagram
of composites showing different fiber orientations and slid-
ing direction with designations of samples are shown in Fig.
1. Samples were cut in a standard size of 45 ⫻ 35 ⫻ 5 mm3
and polished before testing on a Two-Body Abrasion Tester.

Abrasive Wear Test

Two-body abrasive wear test was performed on a SUGA
abrasion tester model- NUS1 (Japan). The rectangular spec-
imen of 45 ⫻ 35 ⫻ 5 mm3 was fixed against a rotating
wheel, on which abrasive paper of 400 grit size (John Oakey
& Mohan Ltd, India) was pasted using an adhesive tape.
The embedded hard SiC particles abraded the test sample.
The weight-loss measurements were done for four sets of
cycles. The tests were conducted at 100, 200, 300, and 400
cycles corresponding to sliding distances of 6.4, 12.8, 19.2,
and 25.6 m, respectively. A constant sliding speed of 2.56 FIG. 2. Plot between wear rate versus applied load for different oriented
m/min and four loads of 1, 3, 5, and 7 N were applied. composites at 25.6 m sliding distance.

438 POLYMER COMPOSITES—2007 DOI 10.1002/pc

lular structure of sisal fibers, which provided resistance to
wear during abrasion. Sisal fiber being flexible also reduces
the fragmentation of matrix i.e. reduces the brittle fracture
of epoxy and offers higher shearing resistance. Presence of
sisal fibers do not allow easy removal of debris and requires
higher energy for detachment from the matrix. These fibers
improve the stiffness and strength of the resin, while the
matrix transmits the load to the stiffer fibers [15]. Addition
of the sisal fiber in epoxy matrix increased the mechanical
property [16]. Increase of interfacial bond strength increases
the resistance of composites against any damage. In this,
case high volume fraction of sisal fibers dominated the wear
behavior of the composite. The wear behavior of the natural
fiber-reinforced polymer composites may depend on the
following factors: (i) fiber-matrix interfacial bonding, (ii)
wear characteristics of the polymer matrix and the degree of
cross-linking, and (iii) structure and percentage of the ligno-
cellulosic fiber. Wear in natural fiber polymer composite is
different from the glass fiber composite. In glass fiber com-
posites, Chand and Fahim [17] reported wear process in four
steps: (i) matrix wear, (ii) fiber wear, (iii) fiber fracture, and
(iv) fiber-matrix interfacial debonding. The fourth mecha-
nism is found to be dominant over the other mechanisms in
polymer composites. Fourth mechanism is common in both
types of composites.
Figure 2 shows that the wear rate for the longitudinal
direction composite (LL) is highest among all the fiber
composites. But it is lower than the pure epoxy. In case of
natural fiber composites, difference in wear properties in
three directions is due to the difference in orientation of
cells present in the sisal fiber. When sisal fibers are aligned
parallel to the wear direction, there is maximum contact area
during sliding as compared to the case of transversely
oriented fibers. The abrasion in fiber composite is due to the
removal of complete layer of fiber, microcutting of cell,
delaminating of fibers, formation of microfibrils, and mi-
crocutting and breaking of resin leading to debris formation.
In LT orientation of fibers, cutting of fibers occurs, but the
removal of complete fiber is hampered due to matrix phase,
which is present between the fibers. A simple explanation
can be provided for the observed behavior based on the
exposed fiber area, which is larger in the case of longitudi-
nal and transverse directions than in the normal direction. In
longitudinal and transverse directions, the detachment of the
fibers is easier, from the bulk material as compared to the
normal wear direction, because in the TT case long fibers
are deep embedded in the matrix and offer the greatest
resistance to detachment. Aforementioned results are simi-
lar to the findings of Lancaster [18] and Tsukizoe and
Ohmae [19]. They found that the difference in wear prop-
erties with respect to the fiber orientations originates mainly
from anisotropic properties caused by the orientation of
graphite crystals present in high modulus carbon fibers. In
the case of normal orientation, most of the graphite crystals
present in the fiber were normally oriented against the
sliding surface and they did not shear easily in the sliding
plane. In the case of TT composite, matrix present between
DOI 10.1002/pc
FIG. 3. Histogram comparing weight loss at sliding distances 6.4, 12.8,
19.2, and 25.6 at different applied loads for differently oriented compos-
ites.
the fibers is protected against counterface interaction, re-
sulting in low wear rate. In the longitudinally oriented case,
wear debris of matrix present between the fibers are easily
swept away by the counterface interaction, resulting in high
wear [10]. A histogram comparing weight loss versus slid-
ing distance at different applied loads for different direction
oriented sisal fiber-reinforced epoxy composites is shown in
Fig. 3. The variation in the weight loss with sliding distance
exhibits a near linear relationship. Figure 3 shows a steady
increase in weight loss with increasing sliding distance and
load in all the cases. This is due to the progressive removal
of material.
Figure 4a shows the worn surface of epoxy sample.
Brittleness of epoxy sample exhibits poor resistance for
abrasive wear. Fragmentation, microcutting, and micro-
ploughing of epoxy matrix have occurred during wear and
can be seen in Fig. 4a. A magnified view of worn surface of
epoxy sample is shown in Fig. 4b. Removal of debris of
brittle fragmented matrix forms the wear tracks. In LL
sample, first the fiber’s surface and cells delaminated by
hard asperities, bent, and then the removal of the debris
occurred from composite surface. Delamination of fiber’s
cell and microploughing mechanism dominated in the wear
process. The remaining attached fiber got fibrillated, which
is visible on the worn surfaces along with wear debris as
shown in Fig. 4c. A magnified view of worn surface of LL
sample shows the long fibrils in Fig. 4d. The mechanism is
schematically shown in Fig. 5a. In LT sample, the abrasive
particles slid, and cut the fibers and matrix. Figure 4e shows
the worn surface, which shows the wear track formation in
transverse direction and fibers microcutting. Simple sche-
matic depiction of mechanism of microcutting the fiber is
shown in Fig. 5b. In case of TT direction, fiber cells are
oriented against the sliding direction, only cross sections of
fibers/cells come in contact and a part of the cross sections
POLYMER COMPOSITES—2007 439
 FIG. 4. SEM photographs of worn surface of different composites. (a) Worn surface of epoxy sample at 7 N
load; (b) magnified view of worn surface of epoxy sample at 7 N load; (c) worn surface of LL sample at 7 N
load; (d) magnified view of worn surface of LL sample at 7 N load; (e) worn surface of LT sample at 7 N load;
(f) unworn surface of TT sample at 7 N load; (g) worn surface of TT sample at 7 N load showing interface filled
by fine debris; (h) magnified view of worn surface of TT sample at 7 N load.

440 POLYMER COMPOSITES—2007 DOI 10.1002/pc


FIG. 5. Schematic representations of possible wear mechanism in LL,
LT, TT sample.
(part of the cells) is removed along with the resin present
between fibers during wear, after microcutting. Figure 4f
shows the unworn surface, which shows interface between
fiber and matrix. Insufficient bonding between sisal fibers
and epoxy resin exists. In another microstructure (Fig. 4g),
interface is filled by the fine abraded debris, which came out
during wear of composite in TT sample. A magnified view
of worn surface of TT sample shows very little abrasion
depth in Fig. 4h. An effort is also made to understand the
schematical mechanism shown in Fig. 5.
CONCLUSIONS
This study concludes that incorporation of sisal fiber
decreased the abrasive wear rate of the epoxy. In TT direc-
tion, minimum wear rate is observed, while in LL direction
maximum wear rate is found. Wear rate follows the follow-
ing trend
W TT ⬍ WLT ⬍ WLL
Minimum wear rate in TT direction is explained on the
basis of very less contact of cross sections of cellulosic cells
with abrading particles, while in LL-oriented sisal– epoxy
DOI 10.1002/pc
composite, whole lengthwise fiber ploughed off along with
matrix present between two fibers and gave highest wear
rate. This behavior has been confirmed by observing the
microstructures of the worn surface of LL, LT, and TT
composites. Increase of load increased wear rate. Similarly
increasing sliding distance shows the increased removal of
material.
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