Mechanical and wear behaviour of thermoplastic nanocomposites along with coir fibre

In the current study, the polymer composites are prepared by blending varied percentages of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polycarbonate (PC) along with fixed amounts of coir fibre (reinforcement) and f-MWCNT (nanofiller) and then compressed into thin sheets. The influence of changing the HDPE/PC ratio with fixed levels of reinforcement and nanofiller on the mechanical and tribological properties has been looked into using tensilometer and pin-on-disc test setup, respectively. They were also characterized for density, hardness, surface roughness and functional group identification (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), respectively. It is observed that the composite with HDPE/PC matrix ratio of 70/19 with 10 wt% coir fibre and 1 wt% f-MWCNT yielded improved results in terms of higher strength (21.1%) and modulus (4.5%) as well as good slide wear resistance and low friction characteristics (0.14) as compared to other composites. The results obtained have been assessed with the fractured and wear damage morphology using scanning electron microscope. Thus the prepared composites could be a choice for manufacturing of tyres, bumpers and panels, etc. in automotive sectors, as it possesses appropriate degree of mechanical and tribological properties.