Effect of reinforced weave patterns on the mechanical performance and wear resistance of wool-epoxy composites

Abstract

This work investigates the effects of fabric weave architecture on the mechanical and tribological properties of sheep wool/epoxy composites manufactured using the hand lay-up technique. Four different weave patterns, namely plain, twill, satin, and basket, were fabricated using a manual handloom and reinforced in an epoxy matrix. The mechanical, interfacial, and wear properties were characterized using tensile, flexural, impact, pull-out, and dry sliding wear tests according to ASTM specifications. Among all the architectures, the satin weave architecture showed the maximum tensile strength of 132.6 MPa, flexural strength, and yield strength due to its lower crimp and higher yarn alignment, which favoured better load transfer. On the other hand, twill architecture offered the best tribological characteristics, and the Taguchi L27 analysis evidenced that the sliding distance is the most dominating parameter that controlling the wear rate. The SEM images showed evidence of good fiber-matrix bonding in satin and twill composites, and the plain and basket architectures revealed higher fiber pull-out and brittle fractures. These observations establish that modifications in weaving architecture could help attain significantly improved stiffness, strength, and wear resistance, and thus wool-reinforced epoxy emerges as a bio-sustainable material for light-weight structural and tribological applications.