Effect of Addition of Organomodified Montmorillonite Nanoclay on Three-Body Abrasive Wear Behavior of Maleic Anhydride Grafted Polyethylene Compatibilized Ethylene-co-Vinyl Acetate/High Density Polyethylene Nanocomposites Rajeev Namdeo , 1,2,3,4 Sudhir Tiwari, 2 Smita Manepatil, 3 Navin Chand 4 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Vaishnav Polytechnic College, M.O.G. Lines, Indore 452002, India 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shri G.S. Institute of Technology & Science, 23, Visvesvaraya Road, Indore 452003, India 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shri G.S. Institute of Technology & Science, 23, Visvesvaraya Road, Indore 452003, India 4 Former Acting Director, CSIR- Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (AMPRI), Bhopal In this experimental study, effect of addition of organo- modified montmorillonite (OMMT) nanoclay in increas- ing quantity, viz. 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 parts per hundred on three-body abrasive wear behavior of maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene compatibilized ethylene-co-vinyl acetate/high-density polyethylene (EVA/HDPE/MA- g-PE) nanocomposites have been investigated. Experi- ments were conducted on rubber wheel abrasion tester, which was in-house developed according to ASTM G65-04 standard. Comparative wear volume loss and specific wear rate of polymer nanocomposites were evaluated at different loads and sliding distances with 300 mm sand abrasive size particles. It was observed that both wear volume loss and specific wear rate were increased with increase in loads. Wear volume loss was increased with increase in sliding dis- tance while specific wear rate was decreased. Taguchi (L 18 ) design of experiment and analysis of variance were used to optimize control factors and determine statisti- cal significance and percentage contribution of control factors. Scanning electron microscopic images showed surface fatigue and microploughing wear mechanism on surface matrix. The aim of this study is to establish the prospects of studied polymer nanocomposites in auto- mobile, aerospace, and similar industrial applications, where three-body abrasive wear is dominating. POLYM. COMPOS., 00:000–000, 2017. V C 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers INTRODUCTION The vision for the future of automobiles by 2050 in National Composites Network (2015) is that the automo- tive industry will establish plastics as a material of choice in the design of all major automotive components and systems like power train, chassis, body, and light weight- ing components. To realize the vision, plastics producers and automakers will work to maximize the value of polymers throughout the supply chain and over the entire life cycle of the vehicle. Research work had been carried out in the area of three- body abrasive wear of different polymer blends, compatibi- lized polymer blends, and polymer nanocomposites, which were used in various industrial applications including auto- mobile and aerospace industries. Involvement of high development costs for new polymers initiated development of polymer blends in which replacement of high cost poly- mers with low cost polymers takes place with desirable properties. Polymer blends have been used with and without compatibilizer. Bagasse ash silica (BASi) with natural and styrene-butadiene rubber composites demonstrated greater abrasive wear resistance against a fabric counterface because of the detachment of fabric and BASi particles Correspondence to: Rajeev Namdeo; e-mail: rrnamdeo@rediffmail.com Navin Chand is currently at 76 kunjan Nagar Phase 2, Bhopal-462026, India. DOI 10.1002/pc.24438 Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). V C 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers POLYMER COMPOSITES—2017