Tribological behaviour of unidirectional carbon fibre-reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

Optimization in tribological behaviour of AlnanoTiO2 powder metallurgy composites using response surface method D Balaji, M Vetrivel, M Ekambaram et al. Abstract. Tribological behaviour of unidirectional carbon fibre-reinforced epoxy composites containing 42wt.% (CU42) and 52wt.% (CU52) carbon fibres fabricated by moulding technique was investigated on a pin-on-flat plate configuration. It is the first time to measure static and dynamic coefficient of frictions and wear rates of epoxy composites under heavy loading conditions. Microstructures of composites were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results indicated the carbon fiber improved the tribological properties of thermoset epoxy by reducing wear rate, but increased the coefficient of friction. At higher load, average wear rates were about 10.8x10 -5 mm 3 /N.m for composites while it was about 38.20x10 -5 mm 3 /N.m for epoxy resin. The wear rate decreased with decreasing load while friction coefficient increased with decreasing load. Moreover, friction coefficient of composites of CU42 tested at 90 N load was measured to be in the range 0.35 and 0.13 for static and dynamic component, respectively.

Tribological properties of carbon-reinforced epoxy composites - A review

“…This higher magnification shows the fractured fibers and a good interface bonding between the fibers and resin. A similar microstructure is observed with parallel and vertical fabric's layers of 60 wt% CF fabric-reinforced epoxy composite but containing a 2.5 wt% PTFE particle [11]. That higher SEM image also indicates a formation of well interface bonding between the fibers and the epoxy resin.…”

“…Variations in coefficient of friction (COF) versus number of cycles at a 42 wt% unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites were reported at fixed speed and load against the smooth steel. The static and dynamic COF were about 0.42, 0.17, respectively [11]. COF decreased because of decreasing the running-in period considerably.…”

“…Wear can be measured based on the weight loss or volumetric wear rate. Material factors are called as intrinsic material properties such as reinforcement type, size, shape and distribution, matrix type, microstructure and volume fraction [1,11,12,13]. Effects of different factors on the wear rate of Polymer Matrix Composites (PMCs) are discussed as the following sections.…”

“…Further, there are no debonding between the fabrics and the matrix at higher magnification in addition to exhibiting fiber distributions in the matrix. Figure 3 indicates a microstructure of fiber reinforced epoxy composites, which are including two weight fractions (wt%) of an unidirectional carbon fibers through SEM [10,11]. SEM shows a crosssectional of fibers and epoxy, but it does not cover any porosity in the structure at the lower magnification.…”

“…The introduction of the reinforcements increased the thermal stabilities and improvements in abrasion and sliding wear properties under the increased temperatures [11,[30][31][32]. The stiffness and strength properties of the composites improved with increasing the graphene contents because of higher elastic modulus/ hardness [33,34].…”