Materials and Design 46 (2013) 706–712

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Materials and Design

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Technical Report

Application of Taguchi method on optimization of testing parameters for erosion

of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composite materials
Mehmet Bagci ⇑, Huseyin Imrek
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Selcuk University, Alaeddin Keykubat Campus, 42075 Selcuklu, Konya, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The target of this experimental study is to investigate solid particle erosion behavior of a new composite
Received 20 July 2012 material formed by adding boric acid particles to glass fibers and epoxy resin at an amount of 15% and
Accepted 10 November 2012 30%. The tests which involved angular aluminum particles with two different sizes were conducted at dif-
Available online 28 November 2012
ferent conditions of impact velocities, fiber directions and impingement angles. The test specimens were
characterized by techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). In addi-
tion, the design of the experiments which utilizes Taguchi’s orthogonal arrays approach was used and an
optimal parameter combination determined which led to minimization of erosion rate of the composites.
Crown Copyright Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction open questions related to the structure–erosion resistance rela-

There has been an increasing trend, recently, towards
researches on solid particle erosion wear; one of the types of sur-
face damages where eroding particles of different dimensional
sizes under various impact velocities and impingement angles,
strike and affect top surfaces of materials thereby leading to mate-
rial losses and functional variations [1,2]. Composites can be de-
fined as materials composed of components bonded together in a
macro and or micro scale basis and designed to meet specific pur-
poses by inducing certain treatments to achieve different thermal,
mechanical or physical properties where unneeded features are
omitted [3]. Although these materials show heterogeneous fea-
tures at microscopic scale, they behave just like any other homoge-
neous material at macroscopic scale. As matrix and reinforcement
materials are the basic components of composites, the reinforce-
ment materials play an important part in forming any composite
material. This is so because, when materials of varying specifica-
tions are imposed into a matrix, these materials significantly im-
prove one or more operating properties of the newly formed
composite [4,5]. Many researchers, therefore, have investigated
the erosion behavior of composites worn out by solid particles.
Patnaik et al. [6] reviewed research on solid particle erosion
behavior of fiber and particulate filled polymer composites. The
new aspects in the experimental studies of erosion of fiber and par-
ticulate filled polymer composites were emphasized in this paper.
Implementation of design of experiments and statistical tech-
niques in analyzing the erosion behavior of composites were dis-
cussed. Recommendations were given on how to solve some
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 332 223 27 54; fax: +90 332 241 06 35.
E-mail address: mehmetbagci@selcuk.edu.tr (M. Bagci).
tionships for polymers and polymer based hybrid composites.
Mahapatra et al. [7] developed polyester composites reinforced
with three different weight fractions of woven E-glass fibers. To
study the effects of various operational and material parameters
on erosive wear behavior of these composites in an interacting
environment erosion tests are carried out. For this purpose, air
jet type erosion test rig and the design of experiments based on
Taguchi’s orthogonal arrays approach are employed. The findings
of the experiments indicate that the rate of erosion of composites
by impact of solid erodent particles is greatly influenced by the
control factors.
Srivastava [8] scrutinized the effects of particle, impingement
angle and particle velocity on the solid particle erosion behavior
of E-glass fiber reinforced epoxy resin (GFRP) composites. In that
study, the erosive wear of wheat flour powder filled composites
is evaluated at different impingement angles from 30° to 90° and
at three different velocities of 24, 35 and 52 m s1. The erodent
particles used were silica sand with irregular shapes and the size
range of 150–250 lm. The result shows erosive wear rates of GFRP
composite with 2 g wheat flour, as filler is the lowest. This restricts
fiber–matrix de-bonding. Pure glass epoxy without any filler shows
the highest erosion rate due to weak bonding strength.
Mahapatra and Patnaik [9] investigated the erosion wear
response of multiphase hybrid composites consisting of polyester
reinforced with E-glass fiber and ceramic particulates and
presented a comparison of the influence of three different particu-
late fillers [cement by-pass dust (CBPD), alumina (Al2O3), and sili-
con carbide (SiC)] on the wear characteristics of glass–polyester
composites. The erosion test schedule in an air jet type test rig
was made, following the Taguchi method of design of experiments.
The Taguchi approach enabled them to determine optimal param-
eter settings that lead to minimization of the erosion rate.

0261-3069/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2012.11.024
 M. Bagci, H. Imrek / Materials and Design 46 (2013) 706–712
Biswas and Satapathy [10] established a mathematical model
for estimating erosion damage caused by solid particle impact on
red mud filled glass fiber reinforced epoxy matrix composites
and also found a correlation derived from the results of Taguchi
experimental design. The filler content in the composites, temper-
ature of the erodent particles, the impingement angle and velocity
are found to have substantial influences in determining the rate of
material loss from the composite surface due to erosion.
Tsuda et al. [11] investigated sand erosion behavior and wear
mechanism of various types of glass fiber reinforced plastics. Ero-
sion behavior of fiber reinforced plastics changed from ductile
manner to brittle one with increase of glass fiber content, and ero-
sion rate was max at vertical impact for higher glass fiber content
FRP.
Patnaik et al. [12] scrutinized the solid particle erosion wear
performance of a multi component hybrid composite consisting
of polyester, glass fibers and alumina particles. In this study, a
mathematical model for damage assessment in erosion has been
developed and validated by a well designed set of experiments.
For this, the design approach of the experiments employed the
Taguchi’s orthogonal arrays method. The study reveals that
glass–polyester composite without any filler suffers greater ero-
sion loss than the hybrid composite with alumina filling. Signifi-
cant control factors and their interactions that influence the wear
rate are identified.
Sınmazcelik and Tasßkıran [13] characterized the solid particle
erosion behavior of randomly oriented short glass fiber and min-
eral particle reinforced polyphenylenesulphide (PPS) composites.
The erosion rates of these composites have been evaluated at dif-
ferent impingement angles and at three different particle speeds.
The PPS composites showed semi-ductile erosion behavior, with
maximum erosion rate at 60° impingement angle.
In a study conducted by Suresh et al. [14] solid particle erosion
behavior of polyetherketone reinforced by short glass fibers with
varying fiber content (0–30 wt%), was investigated. Here, the
researchers evaluated different impact angles (15–90°) and impact
velocities (25–66 m s1) using silica sand particles as abrasives.
PEK and its composites exhibited maximum erosion rate at 30° im-
pact angle indicating ductile erosion behavior. The erosion rates of
PEK composites increased with increase in amount of glass fiber.
Srivastava and Pawar [15] determined the effects of fly-ash fil-
ler, impingement angle and particle velocity on the solid particle
erosion behavior of E-glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites.
The result shows semi-ductile erosion behavior with maximum
erosion rate at 60° impingement angle. The erosion rate displays
a strong dependence on impact velocity. They found that erosive
wears of GFRP composite with 4 g flyash as filler is the lowest. This
filler restricts fiber–matrix de-bonding. They also concluded that
neat glass epoxy without any filler exhibits the highest erosion rate
due to weak bonding strength.
In this experimental study, neat glass fiber-reinforced epoxy
resin composites were selected as the main test specimen and
then boric acid was added into this neat structure as a filler
material at an amount of 15% and 30% of resin and thereby
new glass fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite materials were
formed; then, erosion wear behavior of these materials were
investigated under different impact velocities (23, 34 and
53 m s1) and by using aluminum erodent particle sizes of
200 and 400 lm and at impingement angles of 30°, 60° and
90° along the fiber directions of 0° and 45°. Taguchi’s orthogonal
arrays approach is used for the design of the experiments and an
optimal parameter combination is determined, which leads to
minimization of erosion rate. At the end of the tests, graphs of
S/NL ratios based on the test variations were obtained and re-
lated comments were made.
707
2. Experimental setup and procedure
2.1. Test materials
New composite materials where boric acid particles were added
to glass fiber and epoxy resin at an amount of 15% and 30% used in
this experimental study were industrially produced at Izoreel
Composite Insulating Materials, a Turkish Materials Company
where ‘‘hand lay-up’’ technique is used to fabricate the composites.
The GF/EP composite test specimens were obtained as a result of
reaction between polyphenol epychloridine with alkaline condi-
tions. Apart from showing relatively high mechanical strengths at
room temperature, the materials exhibit good dielectric loss and
electrical strengths in dry and moisturized environments. The
composites have high chemical resistance and can harden at both
low and high temperatures. Moreover, test specimens were cut
with a diamond saw into plates having thicknesses of 3 mm and
cross sections of 30  30 mm2 suitable to fit onto the specimen
holder of the test device. They were then located to the specimen
holder on the device. In addition to all these details which define
the test specimens, the XRD patterns were obtained in order to
prove the presence of the added boric acid additive into the struc-
ture. The presence of the boric acid additive is clearly seen on the
Fig. 1.
2.2. Erosion testing
During the erosion wear tests, the ASTM: G76-07 standard test
method was used. This is the method that involves dry and com-
pressed air accelerating the solid particles to strike the specimen
surfaces. The test apparatus [16] which was specifically designed
for the tests consists of a main reservoir, pressurized particle tank,
universal valves, manometers, flow control and pressure regula-
tors, nozzle, specimen holder, recycling box and a compressor.
The particles impact velocities used in the tests were adjusted by
using the double disk method in which two disks were connected
to a common shaft from a driving prime mover [17]. The impinge-
ment angle, one of the most important parameters affecting solid
particle erosive wear, was varied by turning the test specimen
holder around its own axis. In addition, angular aluminum abrasive
particles were used as eroding agents and two different fiber direc-
tions were preferred. Properties of test specimens are given in
Table 1.
2.3. Experimental design
To select an appropriate orthogonal array for experiments, the
total degrees of freedom need to be computed [18]. The degrees
of freedom are defined as the number of comparisons between
process parameters that need to be made to determine which level
is better and specifically how much better it is [19,20]. In the pres-
ent study, the interaction between the solid particle erosion wear
parameters is included. In this case, there are 34° of freedom owing
to the five erosion parameters and the interactions between
parameters. Once the degrees of freedom required are known,
the next step is to select an appropriate orthogonal array to fit
the specific task. In this study, an L36 (22  33) orthogonal array
was used. Each solid particle erosion wear parameter is assigned
to a column where 108 erosion parameter combinations are avail-
able. A total of 36 experimental runs must be conducted, using the
combination of levels for each control factor as indicated in Table 2.
Moreover, the results of the experiments are reported in the com-
pleted design layout as seen in Table 2. Analysis of the influence of
each erosion parameter was performed by using MINITAB 16.
708 M. Bagci, H. Imrek / Materials and Design 46 (2013) 706–712

Fig. 1. XRD patterns of GF/EP (Neat), GF/EP (15% boric acid) and GF/EP (30% boric acid) test specimens.

encountered at 30° angle; that is the positive deformation parallel

Table 1
to the increase in striking angle has been caused by the tangential
Properties of test specimens.
and normal force couples [22]. When the particles strike the spec-
Property GF/EP GF/EP GF/EP imen at a steep angle like 30°, the striking force separates into nor-
(neat) (boric acid) (boric acid)
mal and tangential components. Because the tangential force
Material density (g/cm3) 1.683 1.435 1.324
Fiber volume ratio 0.50 0.50 0.50
Tensile strength (MPa) 533 401 423
Table 2
Modulus of elasticity (MPa) 144.3 128.96 134.57
Experimental layout and results using an L36 (22  33) orthogonal array.
Hardness (HB) 87 35 42
Temperature strength (TI) 150 195 275 Run Fiber Erodent Material Impingement Impact Erosion S/NL
Electrical strength (kV/mm) 18 21 27 direction size (boric angle velocity rate ratio
Diffusion factor 0.008 0.007 0.005 (°) (lm) acid) (°) (m s1) (mg/ g (dB)
Permeability 5.0 4.7 4.1 (%) kg)
Erodent mass flow rate (g/s) 182.5 182.5 182.5
1 0 200 0 30 23 5.07 14.1002
Boric acid percentage (%) 0 15 30
2 0 200 15 60 34 13.37 22.5226
3 0 200 30 90 53 3.34 10.4749

4 0 200 0 30 23 5.07

5 0 200 15 60 34 13.37

3. Results and discussion 6 0 200 30 90 53 3.34
7 0 200 0 30 34 8.86 18.9487
8 0 200 15 60 53 13.97 22.9039
3.1. Steady state erosion 9 0 200 30 90 23 1.36 2.6708
10 0 400 0 30 53 28.86 29.2059
The main effects of the erosion parameters were plotted onto 11 0 400 15 60 23 12.52 21.9521
graphs, as shown in Fig. 2 for mean values of S/NL ratios. This figure 12 0 400 30 90 34 2.47 7.8539
13 0 400 0 60 53 4.58 13.2173
clearly indicates how fiber direction, erodent size, material,
14 0 400 15 90 23 10.94 20.7803
impingement angle and impact velocity change. The best erosion 15 0 400 30 30 34 15.32 23.7052
rate value is at the higher S/NL values on the response graph. Opti- 16 0 400 0 60 53 4.58 


mal testing conditions of these control factors can be very easily 17 0 400 15 90 23 10.94

determined from the S/NL response graph. It is evident that the ef- 18 0 400 30 30 34 15.32
19 45 200 0 60 23 1.87 5.4368
fect was different for each type of the composite. It was found that 20 45 200 15 90 34 11.23 21.0076
the test specimens with 45° fiber directions recorded lower erosion 21 45 200 30 30 53 11.39 21.1305
rates than the specimens with 0° fiber directions. The force of abra- 22 45 200 0 60 34 3.06 9.7144
sive particles had directly affected the fibers which ultimately im- 23 45 200 15 90 53 10.75 20.6282
24 45 200 30 30 23 4.02 12.0845
posed bending moments on the fibers [21]. As the particle flow
25 45 200 0 90 34 2.13 6.5676
increased, delamination of fibers off the surface was more easily. 26 45 200 15 30 53 44.17 32.9025
When the graphs are studied, it is seen that regardless of the fact 27 45 200 30 60 23 1.61 4.1365
the five graphs are at different values, the specimens in both sets 28 45 400 0 90 34 2.18 6.7691
of graphs seem to undergo much erosion rates at impingement an- 29 45 400 15 30 53 54.30 34.6960
30 45 400 30 60 23 2.04 6.1926
gle of 30°. Because, at 30° impingement angle, the erosion affected 31 45 400 0 90 53 2.99 9.5134
zone was found to be more intense and a plough was formed 32 45 400 15 30 23 21.39 26.6042
across the surface. At 90° impingement angle, the surface deforma- 33 45 400 30 60 34 3.35 10.5009
tion is relatively narrow. However; beside these effects, the wear 34 45 400 0 90 23 1.58 3.9731
35 45 400 15 30 34 45.18 33.0989
rate recorded at 90° impingement angle was still at relatively mild
36 45 400 30 60 53 4.03 12.1061
level as compared to that on a 30° angle. This negative aspect
 M. Bagci, H. Imrek / Materials and Design 46 (2013) 706–712 709

Fig. 2. The graphs of S/NL ratio vs. fiber direction, erodent size, material, impingement angle and impact velocity.

Fig. 3. The interaction graphs of S/NL ratios vs. direction, size, material, angle and velocity.
710 M. Bagci, H. Imrek / Materials and Design 46 (2013) 706–712

component depends on the abrasive particles, it exerts scavenging

effects on the surface. Whereas the normal force components ex-
poses the striking and kinetic energy lost. For this reason, as the
tangential effects are not observed during normal striking (like
90°), the erosive wear rate at 30° angle becomes higher. As a result,
parallel to the increase of the impingement angles, the erosion
rates tend to progressively decrease. This condition shows that, a
similar wear trend is observed as that seen in literature for ductile
materials [23,24]. Moreover; by investigating the results from the
tests, it is found that an increase in the impact velocity [25,26] Broken
and the sizes of the particles [27] negatively affect erosion rate. fibres Localized
On top of that, Fig. 3 shows the graphs of interactions of parame- grooves
ters on the solid particle erosion wear. From these graphs, it is
found that the parameters that exhibited dominant influence in
Fig. 2 play a determining role also on the interaction graphs. That
means, the 15% addition of boric acid to the main matrix has (a)
caused the S/NL value to drop to minimum levels and this has led
to a substantial increase in wear rate. As for specimens with 30% Deepened groove
on the surface
addition of boric acid, they exhibited effects that could be alterna-
tive to the pure GF/EP specimens. Regardless of the fact that an in-
crease in striking speed appears to be one of the effective
parameters in increasing the wear rates, changes in impingement
angle caused worse effects on wear rates than the speed variation Broken
did. Besides additives, impingement angle and striking speed, the fibres
changing sizes of erosive particles also played a significant role
in increasing the wear rates. However; effects of variations in fiber
directions on wear rates remained at relatively low levels.
The main experimental factors that influence erosion rate are
impingement angle, impact velocity, erodent size, erodent shape
and abrasive particle mass flow rate. The factors which govern
the erosion rate of fiber-reinforced polymers are: the tendency of
the matrix being either thermosetting or thermoplastic, the brittle- (b)
ness of the fibers, and the interfacial bond strength between the fi-
bers and the matrix. The sequence of damage due to erosion is in
this order (a) local removal of material in the resin-rich zones,
(b) erosion in the fiber zones associated with breakage of fibers,
and (c) erosion of the interface zones between the fibers and the
adjacent matrix. There have been many studies on the erosion rate
and the factors that influence the erosion of polymeric matrix com-
posites [28]. But, in terms of erosion of filler material composites,
there are only a limited number of published papers. With this in
mind, this experimental study has particularly concentrated on
Superficial deformation under
the investigation of effects of filler materials on erosive wear of
the influence of strong bond
matrix materials.
The results from the experimental study showed that an in-
crease in boric acid particles added into the base structure caused
variations in erosive wear rate. In one study [16], it was found that
the boric acid added to the main structure at a rate of 15% of the (c)
resin did not form a strong bond with the matrix and hence caused
negative influence on the wear rates. However; it was found that Fig. 4. SEM views of test specimens after wear: (a) GF/EP (neat); (b) GF/EP
(15% boric acid); (c) GF/EP (30% boric acid).
the boric acid particles added into the main structure at a rate of
30% of the resin, exhibited the required interaction with epoxy,
resulting into decreasing effects to the wear rates. In other words,
Table 3
the test specimens made of a new GF/EP composite material within Response table for S/NL ratios.
which 30% of boric acid is added posed resistance to the erosive
Level Fiber Erodent Material Impingement Impact
particles and thereby leading to a decrease in wear rates. And in
direction size (boric acid) angle velocity
Fig. 4, changes on the test specimen surfaces as a result of the
1 17.36 15.02 11.74 24.65 11.79
added boric acid are obvious.
2 15.39 17.34 25.71 12.87 16.07
At the end of the tests, SEM views of the deformed specimens 3 11.09 11.02 20.68
were taken and when they were investigated it was found that Delta 1.97 2.33 14.62 13.62 8.88
material removal from the surfaces of the specimens as a result Rank 5 4 1 2 3
of erosive wear took place at several different stages. First of all,
micro cracking appeared on the surfaces as the particles stroked
the surface and as the particle bombardments continued, material Due to this damage, the rate of material delamination off the sur-
delamination took place over the affected areas. The structural faces increased. Consequently; the cracks and grooves on the sur-
bonds got damaged as the particles kept striking the surfaces. faces became more vivid.
 M. Bagci, H. Imrek / Materials and Design 46 (2013) 706–712 711

Table 4 Table 5
Results of the confirmation tests. Analysis of variance for S/NL ratios.

Initial wear Optimal wear parameters Source DF Seq. SS Adj. SS Adj. MS F Contribution
parameters (%)
Experiment Prediction
Direction 1 27.91 27.91 27.912 8.57 1.07
Level A1B1C1D1E1 A2B1C3D3E1 A2B1C3D3E1
(A)
Erosion rate (mg/ 5.07 1.28 0.95
Size (B) 1 40.69 40.69 40.692 12.50 1.56
kg)
Material (C) 2 1364.39 1066.43 533.217 163.76 52.51
S/NL ratio (dB) 14.1 2.14 0.41
Angle (D) 2 874.05 817.12 408.560 125.47 33.63
Improvement of S/NL ratio = 14.51. Velocity (E) 2 222.98 222.98 111.489 34.24 8.58
Residual 21 68.38 68.38 3.256 2.63
error

The control factors were sorted in relation to the differences in Total 29 2598.41

values. The S/NL ratios response of the erosion rate for test speci-
mens is presented in Table 3. This experimental study has shown
that the most effective influence on erosive wear rate appears
due to be variations on the materials used for the specimens. That
is, the varying rates of boric acid additives into the main structure
caused the resulting composite material to exhibit different resis-
tances against wear; and it was found that, this (boric acid addi-
tive) has been the most effective parameter among the others.
After this parameter, the variation of impingement angle follows
suit. It was found that any changes in these angles caused signifi-
cant variations on wear rates. Striking speed, size of the erosive
particles and fiber directions come after these first two parameters,
by playing a determining role in increasing wear rates but with
decreasing magnitude down the parameter list.
calculated. Usually, when F > 4 it means that the design parameter
showed a significant effect on the optimal characteristic.
The last column of Table 5 also indicated the percentage of each
factor contribution on the total variation, thus exhibiting the de-
gree of influence on the results. It might be observed in this table
that the material factor (52.51%), the impingement angle factor
(33.63%) and the impact velocity (8.58%) had a significant influence
on the erosion rate of GF/EP composites while the erodent particle
size (1.56%) and the fiber direction (1.07%) had no significant ef-
fects on it.
4. Conclusions

3.2. Confirmation test

The final step was to verify the improvement of the quality
characteristic using the optimal levels of the design parameters
(A2B1C3D3E1). The estimated S/NL ratio g using the optimal level
of the erosion parameters can be calculated as;
X
q the optimization of the erosion wear parameters. Taguchi’s
g ¼ gm þ ðgi  gm Þ
i¼1
where gm is the total mean of the S/NL ratio, gi is the mean S/NL ratio
at the optimal level and q is the number of the main design param-
eters that significantly affect the performance characteristic.
According to this prediction, it could be inferred that the S/NL
ratio was found to be 0.41 dB. This corresponded to about
0.95 mg/kg, which was the smaller value with in the obtained
experimental results (Table 4). This table shows a comparison of
the predicted erosion rate with the actual erosion rate using the
optimal wear parameters. The increase of the S/NL ratio from initial
wear parameters to optimal wear parameters was about 14.51 dB,
which meant that the erosion rate was increased by about
3.96 times. Therefore, based on the S/NL ratio analysis, the optimal
wear parameters for the erosion rate for GF/EP composites were
the fiber direction (A) at level 2, the erodent size (B) at level 1,
the material (C) at level 3, the impingement angle (D) at level 3
and impact velocity (E) at 1 level.
3.3. ANOVA and effects of the factors
The purpose of the ANOVA is to investigate which design
parameters significantly affect the quality characteristic. It was
accomplished by separating the total variability of the S/NL ratios,
which is measured by sum of the squared deviations from the total
mean S/NL ratio, into contributions by each of the design parame-
ters and the errors. Examination of the calculated values of Fishers
[29] for all control factors also showed a very high influence of fac-
tor C and low influence of factor A on erosion wear of GF/EP com-
posites (Table 5). The F value for each design parameters was
Based on this experimental work, the following conclusions
may be drawn for the solid particle erosion wear conditions used
and the characterization of the erosion rate:
(1) It is found that the parameter design of the Taguchi method
provides a simple, systematic and efficient methodology for
ð1Þ robust orthogonal array design method is suitable for ana-
lyzing the erosion rate as described in this paper.
(2) The confirmation experiments are conducted to verify the
optimal wear parameters. The improvement of erosion rate
from the initial wear parameters to the optimal wear param-
eters is about 396%.
(3) New composite material formed by adding boric acid parti-
cles at a rate of 30% of resin leads to a decrease in wear rates.
This is due to the fact that the added boric acid formed a
strong bond with epoxy and thus rendering the resulting
specimens made of this material improved hardness and
tensile strengths which account for the decreasing wear
rates.
(4) According to ANOVA results, the most significant factor in
affecting the erosion rate is the material (C) having a per-
centage contribution of 52.51%.
(5) All test specimens regardless of their different features exhi-
bit maximum erosion rates at 30° impingement angle and
thus exhibiting similar behavior as that observed for ductile
materials. However; parallel to further increase in the
impingement angle, the values of erosive wear rates tend
to drop.
(6) The remarkable increase in the erosion rate is correlated to
the impact velocities used in the tests. Moreover, large abra-
sive particles lead to an increase in wear. Test specimens
with oblique fiber direction are more erosion resistant than
their counter parts with normal fiber direction.
(7) In order to be able to see the differences in the structure, the
XRD patterns were formed and the deformations on the sur-
faces were compared with SEM views.
712 M. Bagci, H. Imrek / Materials and Design 46 (2013) 706–712

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