Tribological properties of short carbon fibers reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

Short carbon fiber (SCF) reinforced epoxy composites with different SCF contents were developed to investigate their tribological properties. The friction coefficient and wear of the epoxy composites slid in a circular path against a steel pin inclined at 45° to a vertical axis and a steel ball significantly decreased with increased SCF content due to the solid lubricating effect of SCFs along with the improved mechanical strength of the composites. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation showed that the epoxy composites had less sensitive to surface fatigue caused by the repeated sliding of the counterparts than the epoxy. The tribological results clearly showed that the incorporation of SCFs was an effective way to improve the tribological properties of the epoxy composites.

Short Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Tribomaterials Self-Lubricated by Wax Containing Microcapsules

“…The mixture was evacuated for about 15 min to completely remove air-bubbles and then molded in Teflon molds for pure epoxy samples. For the epoxy composite samples with 8 wt.% SCFs, the degassed epoxy resin was mixed with SCFs at different concentrations in a glass beaker placed in a water bath at 60 C and mechanically stirred at 1500 rpm for 30 min [19]. After degassing for 15 min in a vacuum oven, the hardener was added in the mixture followed by hand stirring for 10 min and degassing for another 15 min.…”

“…Therefore, it is importantly necessary to improve the mechanical strength of polymer composites while maintaining their relatively low friction and wear for oil and gas applications (e.g., flexible risers) where high mechanical strength, low friction, and excellent wear resistance are crucial. SCFs can be considered as one of the most popular candidates for the development of high strength polymer composites because of their high surfaceto-volume ratio, outstanding thermal and mechanical properties, and good dispersion in polymer matrices [17][18][19]. Moreover, SCFs can serve as a solid lubricant to lubricate rubbing surfaces for friction reducing applications [19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

“…SCFs can be considered as one of the most popular candidates for the development of high strength polymer composites because of their high surfaceto-volume ratio, outstanding thermal and mechanical properties, and good dispersion in polymer matrices [17][18][19]. Moreover, SCFs can serve as a solid lubricant to lubricate rubbing surfaces for friction reducing applications [19][20][21][22][23][24]. Zhang et al [25] reported that epoxy composites reinforced with combined multiscale fillers of carbon nanofibers and microsized SCFs exhibited much higher modulus, strength, and fracture toughness than the ones reinforced solely with either nano-or microfillers.…”

“…Zhang et al [25] reported that epoxy composites reinforced with combined multiscale fillers of carbon nanofibers and microsized SCFs exhibited much higher modulus, strength, and fracture toughness than the ones reinforced solely with either nano-or microfillers. Khun et al [19] found that the incorporation of SCFs was an effective way to improve the mechanical and tribological properties of epoxy composites with an optimized content of about 8 wt.% SCFs for the best results. Therefore, it is expected that additional incorporation of 8 wt.% SCFs in microencapsulated wax containing epoxy composites would be a possible way to develop novel epoxy composites with higher mechanical strength and better tribological performance, which has not been reported yet and needs to be systematically investigated.…”

Multifunctional polymeric composites with wear-resistant, toughening, and self-healing features

“…Liquid epoxy resins exhibit better mixing and processing abilities with reinforcement materials in granular or fiber form and the mixtures result in composite materials with intermediate properties depending on combined actions of 19.1 Introduction the components [12]. In addition, epoxy resins represent an important class of polymers due to their excellent adhesion to many substrates, high tensile, compressive and flexural strength, and high chemical, fatigue, and corrosion electrical resistance [13][14][15].…”