This paper reports a study on erosion response of epoxy composites filled with micro‐sized Linz–Donawitz (LD) slag particles. LD slag is a major solid waste generated in huge quantities during steel making. It comes from slag formers such as burned lime/dolomite and from oxidizing of silica, iron etc. while refining the iron into steel in the LD furnace. Although a number of ways for its utilization have been suggested in the past, its potential as a filler material in polymeric matrices has not yet been explored. In this work, composites of five different compositions (0, 7.5, 15, 22.5 and 30 wt% of LD slag reinforced in epoxy resin) are prepared by a simple hand layup technique. The composites are characterized in regard to their density, porosity, micro‐hardness and strength properties. Erosion trials (ASTM G 76) are conducted on the composite samples following a well‐planned experimental schedule based on Taguchi's design of experiments. The study reveals that the impact velocity and LD slag content in the composites are the most significant among various factors that influence the wear rate. This work shows that LD slag, in spite of being a waste, possesses fairly good filler characteristics as it modifies the properties and improves the erosion resistance of the polymeric resin.

This article reports on the characterization and erosion wear performance of a new class of epoxy composites filled with micro-sized red brick dust (RBD) particles. Although a number of ways for its utilization have been suggested in the past, its potential as a filler material in polymeric matrices has not yet been explored so far. In this work, composites with different RBD content are prepared by simple hand layup technique. The composites are characterized in regard to their density, porosity, micro-hardness, and strength properties. Solid particle erosion trials are conducted following a well-planned experimental schedule based on Taguchi design-of-experiments. The morphology of composite surfaces is then examined by scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, a novel nature-inspired ant lion optimizer (ALO) algorithm is proposed in this work to achieve minimum erosion wear rate. This algorithm mimics the behavior of antlions in nature. It provides a very competitive result over other evolutionary algorithms due to its characteristics like improved exploration, avoidance of local optima, quick convergence and less number of tuning parameters. The wear rate value obtained by ALO exhibit the lowest one as compared to the traditional Taguchi result. POLYM. COM-POS., 40:3877-3885, 2019.

This article reports on the implementation of a soft computing technique based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) in analyzing the wear performance of a new class of hybrid composites filled with Linz-Donawitz slag (LDS). LDS is a major solid waste generated in huge quantities during steel making. It comes from slag formers such as burned lime/dolomite and from oxidizing of silica, iron etc. while refining the iron into steel in the LD furnace. In this work, hybrid composites consisting of short glass fiber (SGF) reinforced epoxy filled with different LDS content (0, 7.5, 15 and 22.5 wt%) are prepared by simple hand lay-up technique. Solid particle erosion trials, as per ASTM G 76 test standards, are conducted on the composite samples following a well-planned experimental schedule based on Taguchi design of experiments. Significant process parameters predominantly influencing the rate of erosion are identified. The study reveals that the LDS content is the most significant among various factors influencing the wear rate of these composites. Further, a model based on ANN for the prediction of erosion performance of these composites is implemented. The ANN prediction profiles for the characteristic wear properties exhibit very good agreement with the measured results demonstrating that a well-trained network has been created. The simulated results explaining the effect of significant process variables on the wear rate indicate that the trained neural network possesses enough generalization capability of predicting wear rate even beyond the experimental range.

This article reports a study on the erosion response of polypropylene (PP) composites filled with micro-sized Linz-Donawitz (LD) slag particles. LD slag is a major solid waste generated in huge quantities during steel making. It comes from slag formers such as burned lime/dolomite and from oxidation of silica, iron etc. while refining the iron into steel in the LD furnace. In this work, composites with different LD slag content (0, 7.5, 15, 22.5, 30 wt%) in a thermoplastic PP matrix base are prepared by injection molding technique. The composites are characterized with regard to their density, porosity, micro-hardness and strength properties. Solid particle erosion trials, as per ASTM G 76 test standards, are conducted on the composite samples following a well-planned experimental schedule based on Taguchi design of experiments. An air jet type erosion test rig capable of creating reproducible erosive wear situations is used for this purpose. Significant process parameters predominantly influencing the rate of erosion are identified. The study reveals that the LD slag content and impact velocity in the composites are most significant among various factors influencing the wear rate.

Linz‐Donawitz (LD) slag is a major solid waste generated in huge quantities during steel making. It comes from slag formers such as burned lime/dolomite and from oxidizing of silica, iron etc. while refining the iron into steel in the LD furnace. This article reports on the erosion wear performance of a new class of hybrid composites prepared by reinforcement of short glass fibers (SGF) in LD slag filled polypropylene (PP) matrix. In this investigation, composites with different LD slag content (0, 7.5, 15, and 22.5 wt%) in a polypropylene matrix base with 20 wt% SGF reinforcement are prepared by injection molding technique. The composites are characterized in regard to their density, porosity, micro‐hardness, and strength properties. Erosion trials (ASTM G 76) are conducted on the composite samples following a well‐planned experimental schedule based on Taguchi design‐of‐experiments. Significant process parameters predominantly influencing the rate of erosion are identified and the LD slag content in the composites is found as most significant among various factors that influence the wear rate. The metaheuristic approach like Teaching‐learning based optimization (TLBO) reveals the minimum erosion wear rate as 11.94 mg/kg at the optimal parametric combination. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:3944–3951, 2018. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers