Tribological behaviour of proposed polymeric bearing materials

The aim of the present work is to introduce new polymeric bearing materials. The proposed polymeric composites are consisting of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) and filled by fibres of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in concentration up to 25 wt.% as well as different types of natural oils such as (corn oil, olive oil, paraffin oil, glycerin oil, castor oil and sunflower oil) in concentration up to 10 wt.%. The frictional behavior of the proposed composites and wear resistance are investigated at different values of applied load. Based on the experimental observations, it was found that for composites free of oil, friction of PS and PE specimens decreased, while friction of PP specimens slightly increased with increasing PTFE content. PP composites filled by corn oil showed slight friction increase. Besides, friction coefficient displayed by PS and PE specimens filled by glycerin oil decreased with increasing oil content, while friction coefficient displayed by PP specimens showed consistent trend. It was noted that, PE filled with 7.5% glycerin oil and 20 wt.% PTFE displayed the minimum value of friction coefficient (0.07). This friction coefficient values recommend those composites to be used as bearing materials. PE filled by glycerin oil displayed relatively lower friction values due its common known good lubricating property. Friction of PE composites filled by paraffin oil drastically decreased with the increasing oil content. PP composites showed the lowest wear values. In addition to that, it was shown that wear displayed by composites filled by glycerin oil was higher than that containing corn oil, while wear of the tested composites filled with olive oil showed lower values than that displayed by corn oil filled composites. Composites containing 5.0–7.5% paraffin oil content showed good wear resistance which recommends them to be used as bearing material. Wear of PP, PS and PE composites filled with sunflower oil and 15 wt.% PTFE drastically decreased with increasing oil content. The minimum wear was displayed by PP and PE composites filled with 10% oil content.     

Influence of Fibre Orientation on Friction and Sliding Wear Behaviour of Jute Fibre Reinforced Polyester Composite

Jute fibre reinforced polyester composites were developed and characterized for friction and sliding wear properties. Effect of fibre orientation and applied load on tribological behaviour of jute fibre reinforced polyester composites were determined. It is found that wear resistance was maximum in TT sample, where fibres were normal to sliding direction. Wear rate under sliding mode follows this trend; W_TT < W_LT <W_LL LL sample showed higher capability to sustain the load whereas lowest wear resistance found in this case. The coefficient of friction found highest for TT sample and lowest for LT sample. The coefficient of friction decreased with increase of applied load. Worn surfaces were analysed and discussed with the help of SEM.     

In State of Art: Mechanical and tribological behaviour of polymeric composites based on natural fibres

In this article, a comprehensive literature review on the mechanical and tribological behaviour of polymeric composites based on natural fibres is introduced. The effects of volume fraction, orientations, treatments and physical characteristics of different types of natural fibres on the mechanical and tribological properties of several thermoset and thermoplastic polymers are addressed. The effects of the tribological operating parameters (applied load, sliding velocity and sliding distance) on the frictional and wear performance of natural fibre polymer composites are demonstrated. The collected date and analyses revealed that volume fraction, orientations, type of treatment and physical characteristics of the natural fibres significantly influence the mechanical and tribological behaviour of composites. The most influence key in designing natural fibre/polymer composite is the interfacial adhesion of the fibre with the matrix. NaOH chemical treatment found to be the most useful treatment method to enhance the interfacial adhesion of the natural fibres with the matrix, while other techniques exhibited either no effect or deterioration on the fibre strength. Frictional characteristics of the natural fibre composites are poor and solid lubricants are recommended to reduce the friction coefficient of the materials.     

Effect of Short Fibre Reinforcement on the Friction and Wear Behaviour of Nylon 66

Use of thermoplastic composite material for load bearing components is increasing due to economical processing of complicated shapes in large quantities. Addition of fibre improves the strength and modulus of composites. Although the tribo-behaviour of thermoplastic composites were investigated, the friction and wear mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Friction and wear behaviour of injection unfilled Nylon 66, glass fibre reinforced Nylon 66 and carbon fibre reinforced Nylon 66 is investigated under dry sliding conditions. Tests were conducted at different normal loads and sliding velocities at room temperature. Coefficient of friction, wear loss and heat generation during the wear tests were quantified. Presence of fibre affects coefficient of friction and wear resistance of Nylon 66 matrix composites. The formation and stability of the transfer films affects the wear resistance. The rise in temperature during sliding was also calculated and also measured. The contact temperature rise is influenced by the composition which in turn influences the fibre adhesion and thereby the wear resistance. Glass fibre reinforced Nylon exhibited the lowest wear rate among the materials investigated. Both adhesive and abrasive wear mechanisms were observed in polymer matrix composites.     

Preparation, Properties and Application of C/C-SiC Composites Fabricated by Warm Compacted-in situ Reaction

Carbon fibre reinforced carbon and SiC dual matrices composites (C/C-SiC) show superior tribological properties, high thermal shock resistance and good abrasive resistance, and they are promising candidates for advanced brake and clutch systems. The microstructure, mechanical properties, friction and wear properties, and application of the C/C-SiC composites fabricated by warm compacted-in situ reaction were introduced. The results indicated that the composites were composed of 50-60 wt pct carbon, 2-10 wt pct residual silicon and 30-40 wt pct silicon carbide. The C/C-SiC brake composites exhibited good mechanical properties. The value of flexural strength and compressive strength could reach 160 and 112 MPa, respectively. The impact strength was about 2.5 kJ·m^-2. The C/C-SiC brake composites showed excellent tribological performance, including high coefficient of friction (0.38), good abrasive resistance (1.10 μm/cycle) and brake steadily on dry condition. The tribological properties on wet condition could be mostly maintained. The silicon carbide matrix in C/C-SiC brake composites improved the wear resistance, and the graphite played the lubrication function, and right volume content of graphite was helpful to forming friction film to reduce the wear rate. These results showed that C/C-SiC composites fabricated by warm compacted-in situ reaction had excellent properties for use as brake materials.     

Tribological behaviour and wear of carbon nanotubes grafted on carbon fibres

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) grafted on fibres are widely used to reinforce composites in order to improve their mechanical properties. This study concerned the tribological properties of CNTs grafted on carbon fibres by the flame method. The aim of this study was to determine whether CNTs on fibres suffer damage under stress, similar to those applied during composite manufacturing, which can damage composite properties, particularly fibre/matrix adhesion. For this purpose, reciprocating friction tests were performed to examine the resistance of CNTs and highlight a wear mechanism. The results showed that the presence of CNTs increased the coefficient of friction in the first friction cycles and then decreased it to close to the COF of the fibre without CNTs. The wear mechanism showed that after a small number of friction cycles, the CNTs were flattened out and formed a transfer film.     

The impact strength of fibre composites

Two models have been developed which predict the crack initiation energy, notched impact strength and unnotched impact strength of fibre composites. One is applicable to composites containing short fibres and the other to composites containing long fibres. Data obtained with randomly oriented short fibre composites were consistent with the one model. The other model has been verified using composites containing uniaxially oriented long fibres and long fibres oriented randomly in a plane. The success of the model demonstrates that the high notched impact strength with long fibres is due to the redistribution of stress away from the stress concentrating notch, the extra stress that can be held by the fibre relative to the matrix and the work required to pull fibres out of the matrix during crack propagation. The parameters which have been shown to control the fracture energy are composite modulus, fibre length, fibre volume fraction, effective fibre diameter, fibre tensile strength and the coefficient of friction during fibre pull-out from the matrix. The matrix toughness on the other hand usually has no effect at all for composites containing fibres randomly oriented in two dimensions and only a minor effect in exceptional cases. The shear strength of the fibre-matrix bond has only an indirect effect in that it controls the number of fibres which pull out rather than fracture.     

C/ZA-12复合材料的摩擦磨损性能研究

本文研究了用挤压铸造法制备的C/ZA-12复合材料的摩擦磨损性能.对碳纤维体积分数和载荷改变时,复合材料的摩擦系数、磨损量的变化规律作了较细致的分析,并对影响其磨损性能的因素进行了讨论.      

C／ZA－12复合材料的摩擦磨损性能研究

本文研究了用挤压铸造法制备的Ｃ／ＺＡ－１２复合材料的摩擦磨损性能。对碳纤维体积分数和载荷改变时，复合材料的摩擦系数、磨损量的变化规律作了较细致的分析，并对影响其磨损性能的因素进行了讨论。     

Experimental and theoretical studies on the properties of injection moulded glass fibre reinforced mixed plastics composites

Recycled mixed post-consumer and post-industrial plastic wastes consisting of HDPE, LDPE and PP were injection moulded with short glass fibre (10–30% by weight) to produce a new generation composite materials. Intensive experimental studies were then performed to characterise the tensile, compression and flexural properties of glass fibre reinforced mixed plastics composites. With the addition of 30 wt.% of glass fibre, the strength properties and elastic modulus increased by as much as 141% and 357%, respectively. The best improvement is seen in the flexural properties due to the better orientation of the glass fibres in the longitudinal direction at the outer layers. The randomness and length of the glass fibre were accounted to modify the existing rule of mixture and fibre model analysis to reliably predict the elastic and strength properties of glass fibre reinforced mixed plastics composites.     

树脂基纤维增强摩阻材料研究进展

综述了国内外目前树脂基纤维增强摩阻材料的研究进展,主要介绍了树脂基摩阻材料的摩擦学特性及摩擦磨损机理;树脂基体的改性研究成果,归纳了填料种类对摩阻材料摩擦学特性的影响.对常用的增强纤维性能作了对比,尤其是对天然植物剑麻纤维及其增强材料特性作了总结.笔者首次研究了剑麻纤维增强汽车刹车片,认为将剑麻纤维应用于摩阻材料将会是一个新的研究热点.     

Effects of hybrid composition of LCP and glass fibres on abrasive wear of reinforced LLDPE

The hybrid of liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) fibres and glass fibres (GF) provide a combination of modulus and toughness to semi-crystalline linear-low-density-polyethylene (LLDPE). LCP and GF fibres reinforced composites were studied using two-body abrasion tester under different applied loads. Two sets of fibre reinforced LLDPE, 10 and 20 vol%, were investigated. The contents of LCP and glass fibres were varied as 25, 50, 75 and 100 vol% of overall volume of fibres in LLDPE. The effect of replacing glass fibre with LCP fibre on wear is reported. Wear loss increased with the applied loads and glass fibre contents in LLDPE. The replacements of glass fibres with LCP fibres improved abrasive wear resistance of composite. The composite containing 20 vol% of glass fibres in LLDPE showed the specific wear rate nearly double to that of LCP fibre reinforced LLDPE. Incorporation of LCP fibre improved wear resistance of glass fibre reinforced LLDPE. Worn surfaces were studied using SEM. Glass fibres were broken in small debris and removed easily whereas LCP fibres yielded to fibrillation during abrasive action. The overall wear rate was governed by the composition and test conditions.     

The influence of fibre microstructure on fibre breakage and mechanical properties of natural fibre reinforced polypropylene

The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of fibre morphology of different natural fibres on the composites mechanical properties and on the fibre breakage due to extrusion process. The composite materials were manufactured using LTF (long fibre thermoplastic) extrusion and compression moulding and the used fibres were sisal, banana, jute and flax, and the matrix was a polypropylene. The results showed that sisal composites had the best impact properties and the longest fibres after the extrusion. Generally, the composites flexural stiffness was increased with increased fibre content for all fibres, being highest for flax composites. The flexural strength was not affected by the addition of fibres because of the low compatibility. The addition of 2 wt.% maleated polypropylene significantly improved the composites properties. Unlike the other three fibres, flax fibres were separated into individual elementary fibres during the process due to enzymatic retting and low lignin content.     

Atmospheric plasma fluorination as a means to improve the mechanical properties of short-carbon fibre reinforced poly (vinylidene fluoride)

The impact of fluorination of carbon fibres on the properties of short fibre reinforced polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) composites was studied. As received and continuously atmospheric plasma fluorinated (APF) carbon fibres were cut to an average fibre length of 2 mm. Short fibre composites (SFC) containing 5, 10 and 15 wt.% carbon fibres were manufactured using a twin-screw mixer. Test specimens were produced by injection moulding. The mechanical properties of the SFC were studied using tensile and compression testing. As expected, the incorporation of short-carbon fibres into PVDF led to an increase in strength and stiffness. The tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the SFC containing APF-treated carbon fibres increased by up to 17% and 190%, respectively. Furthermore, the compressive strength and modulus of the SFC containing APF-treated carbon fibres also increased by 19% and 35%, respectively. APF of carbon fibres results only in a marginal increase in the bulk matrix crystallinity of PVDF as determined by DSC. Scanning electron micrographs of fracture surfaces from tensile tested specimens exhibited a typical brittle failure mode with low fibre loading fraction. Despite the presence of up to 5% of voids and visible resin rich regions at fracture surface, SFC containing APF-treated fibres suggest better bonding at the fibre/matrix interface which led to the much enhanced mechanical properties.     

Wood based PLA and PP composites: Effect of fibre type and matrix polymer on fibre morphology,dispersion and composite properties

This study presents a comparison of the effect of various wood fibre types in polylactic acid and polypropylene composites produced by melt processing. The study also reveals the reinforcing effect of pelletised wood fibres compared to conventionally used wood flour or refined fibres. Composites containing 30 wt.% of chemical pulps, thermomechanical pulp and wood flour were produced by compounding and injection moulding. Fibre morphologies were analysed before and after melt processing. The dispersion of the fibres and mechanical performance of the composites were also investigated. Fibre length was reduced during melt processing steps, reduction being higher with longer fibres. Wood fibres provided clearly higher plastic reinforcement than wood flour. Comparing the wood fibre types, TMP fibres provided the highest improvement in mechanical properties in polylactic acid composites with uniform fibre dispersion. In polypropylene composites, fibre selection is not as crucial.     

Friction and wear properties of polyphenyl ester and graphite filler in the carbon fibre‐reinforced ultra‐high‐molecular‐weight polyethylene composites

Ultra‐high‐molecular‐weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) reinforced with carbon fibre (CF) underwent an enhancement of heat and wear resistant with the addition of polyphenyl ester (POB) and graphite, respectively. The effect of graphite content on the tribological properties of the composites was studied. The wear surface was examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results of the sliding wear tests showed that with graphite loading, wear resistance increased and the coefficient of friction was much more stable. In addition, graphite improved the tribological properties of the composite. Hardness, impact strengths and thermal stability of the composites were enhanced. With increased load, the wear rate of the ultra‐high‐molecular‐weight polyethylene+carbon fibre+polyphenyl ester+10 % graphite composite tended to increase, whereas the coefficient of friction decreased. The adherence and plastic deformation were dominant wear mechanisms for the ultra‐high‐molecular‐weight polyethylene+carbon fibre+polyphenyl ester+graphite composites. The formation of a thin and uniform transfer film was observed.     

Influence of CaCO3 Whisker Content on Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Polyetheretherketone Composites

The mechanical and tribological properties of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) composites filled with CaCO3 whisker in various content of 0-45% (wt pct) were investigated. The composite specimens were prepared by compression molding. Tribological testing of composites in dry wear mode against carbon steel ring was carried out on a MM200 block-on-ring apparatus. Data on neat PEEK were also included for comparison. It was observed that inclusion of CaCO3 whisker affected the most mechanical properties and the friction and wear in a beneficial way. With an increase in CaCO3 whisker content, friction coefficient continuously decreased but the trends in wear performance varied. The specific wear rate showed minima as 1.28×10-6 mm3/Nm for 15% CaCO3 whisker inclusion followed by a slow increase for further CaCO3 whisker addition. In terms of friction applications, when the tribological and mechanical properties are combined, the optimal content of CaCO3 whisker in the filled PEEK should be recommended as 15% to 20%. Fairly good correlations are observed in friction coefficient vs bending modulus and wear rate vs bending strength, confirming that the bending properties prove to be the most important tribology controlling parameters in the present work.     

Tribological performance of polymer composites used in electrical engineering applications

Sliding wear performance of 20% mica-filled polyamide 6 (PA6 + 20% mica) and 20% short glass fibre-reinforced polysulphone (PSU + 20 GFR) polymer composites used in electrical applications were investigated using a pin-on-disc wear test apparatus. Two different disc materials were used in this study. These are AISI 316 L stainless steel and 30% glass fibre-reinforced polyphenylenesulphide (PPS + 30%GFR) polymer composite. Wear test was carried out at 10, 20 and 30 N applied load values and 0·5 m/s sliding speed and at ambient temperature and humidity. Different combinations of rubbing surfaces were examined and friction coefficient and specific wear rate values were obtained and compared. For two material combinations used in this investigation, the coefficient of friction shows insignificant sensitivity to applied load values and large sensitivity to material combinations. For specific wear rate, PA6 + 20% mica composite has shown insensitivity to change in load, speed and materials combination while PSU + 20% glass fibre composite has shown high sensitivity to the change in load and material combinations. The friction coefficient of PA6 + 20% mica and PSU + 20 glass fibre rubbing against the AISI 4140 steel disc is between 0·35 and 0·40. In rubbing against PPS + 30% glass fibre their values were between 0·25 and 0·30. Specific wear rate for PA6 + 20% mica and PSU + 20% glass fibre composites are in the order of 10^???13 to 10^???14 m²/N. Finally, the wear mechanisms are a combination of adhesive and abrasive wear processes. In terms of application, especially in electrical systems, a substantial contribution was provided to extend switch life. Thus, besides robustness, this also ensured safety for the system and the users against undesirable situations.     

The abrasive wear behaviour of continuous fibre polymer composites

The dry abrasive-dominant wear behaviour of several composite materials consisting of uni-directional continuous fibres and polymer matrices was investigated. Seven materials were examined: neat epoxy (3501-6), carbon fibre epoxy (AS4/3501-6), glass fibre/epoxy (E-glass/ 3501-6), aramid fibre/epoxy (K49/3501-6), neat polyetheretherketone (PEEK), carbon fibre/PEEK (APC2) and aramid fibre/PEEK (K49/PEEK). The wear behaviour of the materials was characterized by experimentally determining the friction coefficients and wear rates with a pin on-flat test apparatus. First, the effects of the operation variables apparent normal pressure, sliding velocity and apparent contact area were observed. The dimensionless wear rate increased linearly as the apparent normal pressure increased and decreased as the apparent contact area increased. Second, through microscopic observations of the worn surfaces and subsurface regions, basic wear mechanisms were identified as a function of fibre orientation. Observations of fibre-abrasive particle interactions allowed for the differentiation of the dominating wear mechanisms. Finally, a network of data was compiled on the wear behaviour in terms of the three material parameters: fibre orientation, fibre material and matrix material. This enabled the systematic selection of an ideal low wear composite material which would consist of a PEEK matrix reinforced with aramid fibres oriented normal to the contacting surface and carbon fibres oriented parallel to the contacting surface.     

Micromechanics of crack bridging in fibre-reinforced concrete

The stress-crack width relationship has been determined experimentally for concretes reinforced with two types of fibres, steel and polypropylene, of various fibre volume fractions. A micromechanics-based theoretical model is proposed which captures the essential features of the stress-crack width relationships at small crack widths (less than 0.3 mm). Micromechanisms accounted for include the bridging actions due to aggregates and fibres, Cook-Gordon interface debonding and fibre pre-stress. The fibre bridging action involves interface slip-dependent friction as well as snubbing friction for fibres bridging at inclined angles. Theoretical predictions based on independent parametric inputs compare favourably with experimental measurements of the stress-crack width relationship. Findings in this research provide confidence in the use of the proposed model for materials engineering targeted at prescribed structural performance.