Influence of Counter-Face Grit Size and Lubricant on the Abrasive Wear Behaviour of Thermoplastic Polymers Reinforced with Glass Fibres

Abstract

Thermoplastic composite materials are widely used for aerospace, automobile and structural applications due to their good combination of high strength to weight ratio and specific modulus. Combined with the ease of melt processing, good resistance to corrosion, low friction, and noise damping are attributes which make them a popular choice in a wide range of emerging applications. Random, short-fibre, E-glass fibre reinforced Polyamide 6 (PA6) composites were manufactured by injection moulding in three different fibre volume fractions (25%, 33% and 50%) and the samples were scanned using micro-CT. The tribological properties of PA6 and glass fibre reinforced PA6 were investigated in the abrasive wear mode by using a pin-on-disc test setup. The tests were done at an abrading distance of 257 m and applied load of 10 N. The abrasive wear experiments were performed against three abrasive grit size papers (220, 500 and 1000 grit), to ascertain the wear response of the studied materials with respect to these adverse running conditions. Moreover, the mechanical properties of PA6 and PA6 composites were examined using tensile testing and compression testing. The surface roughness of the worn surfaces was analysed using a 3D digital profilometer. The worn surface topographies were scanned using field emission scanning electron microscopy. It was observed that the optimum fibre loading that was associated with the highest wear resistance was 33% volume fraction of glass fibres, and the wear performance deteriorated with higher fibre loadings. The increase in the grit size showed a significant reduction to the wear rates of all compositions. The results confirmed that the wear performance of polyamide composites is highly dependent on the tribological system under which it is being tested.Graphical