Friction and wear behavior of CFRP plate in contact with roughened mould steel under high normal pressure

Abstract

The coefficient of static friction of the CFRP-steel couple is a critical parameter required for the prestressed CFRP anchor design. The short-term friction and wear performance of commercially available CFRP plates in contact with roughened mould steel were investigated experimentally in normal pressure range of 20–100 MPa. To obtain various roughness levels, surface features of mould steel plates were altered by three surface treatment methods including polishing, chemical corrosion and machinery. The experimental coefficient of friction was in the range of 0.11–0.33 corresponding to various parameters. The effects of steel surface roughness and normal pressure on the coefficient of friction were also studied by considering different CFRP thicknesses, and the results show that greater coefficient of friction can be obtained through the proper combination of steel roughness level and the normal pressure applied in different thickness CFRP plates. Furthermore, a visual inspection of wear behavior demonstrated that the increasing wear debris reduces the coefficient of friction after the CFRP sliding due to a self-lubrication effect, and the thicker CFRP plate has higher resistance to the ploughing action, and thus attains a larger coefficient of friction contacting with roughened surface.