Assessment of Mechanical and Erosive Wear Behavior in Polyester Composites Reinforced with Curaua and Basalt Fibers

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, SRM Madurai College for Engineering and Technology, Madurai 626125, TN, India.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education Anand Nagar, Krishnankoil- 626126, Virudhunagar Dt, India.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering & Mar Ephraem College of Engineering and Technology, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sir Isaac Newton College of Engineering, Pappakovil, Nagapattinam - 611 102, Tamilnadu, India.
⁵ Department of Agricultural Engineering, Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education Anand Nagar, Krishnankoil- 626126, Virudhunagar Dt, India.

^* Corresponding author: k.mayandi@klu.ac.in

Published online: 25 November 2025

Abstract

The current study investigated the erosion behavior of hybrid composites made from curaua and basalt fiber reinforced polyester. Three distinct composite types such as Curaua compsites (CU), Curaua/Basalt composites (CU/BA) and Basalt Composites (BA) were produced utilizing Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) with a fiber reinforcement of 40%. For these three composite variations, tensile and hardness testing have been performed in accordance with ASTM standards. The findings indicated that the hybrid composites possess intermediate characteristics, with selected hybrids demonstrating properties close to those of pure basalt fiber composites. A solid erosion test was conducted following ASTM G-76, varying the impact angle while maintaining a constant velocity of 100 m/s on the fiber reinforced composites. Result shows that the increase in their mechanical performance, the hybrid composites demonstrated reduced erosion rates compared to curaua fiber, with values closely aligning with those observed in basalt fiber.