Mechanical and Three Body Abrasive Wear Behaviour of Nano-Filler Filled, Chopped Glass Fiber Filled Hybrid Composites

Abstract

Polymer matrix composites are developed for tribological applications due to the possibility of optimizing the properties with the addition of special filler materials as reinforcement. Filler filled polymer matrix composite systems are used in many automotive parts and components like brake pads or clutches which require high coefficient of friction coupled with low wear. However, in most cases it is the primary concern to develop polymer composites that posses low friction and low wear properties under dry sliding conditions against smooth metallic counterparts e.g., gears or bearings, chute liners and coal handling equipments in power plants, gear pumps handling industrial fluids, agricultural machine components. Polymer composites operate in applications where fluid and grease lubricants fail, and have superior tribological performance to traditional polymer composites. Particulate fillers or fibres or solid lubricants have been a part of notable reductions in the wear rate of the polymer matrix at very low loading, and there exists a wide scope on the development of polymer composites on the tribological behaviour. The incorporation of fillers in polymer could provide a synergism in terms of improving mechanical properties and wear performance, which has not been adequately explored so far. The research on nano fillers such as nano clay, Glass fiber and Titanium di-oxide (TiO2) in epoxy system is scarcely reported and further they focus on a few specific issues only. The present study was focused on investigating Mechanical - Tensile, Hardness, and three body abrasive wear characteristics of thermosetting based Epoxy composites and the effect of incorporation of nano clay, TiO2 nanoparticles and chopped glass fiber on microstructure, hardness, friction and abrasive wear are determined and analyzed. The main aim was to investigate the effect of applied load, sliding distance /abrading distance, sliding speed and percentage of filler. The surface morphology of the worn out surfaces were examined using SEM, to get a better understanding of the wear mechanisms.