Investigations on effectiveness of transfer layer on specific wear rate and coefficient of friction during dry sliding of hybrid polymer matrix composites

Abstract

AbstractThe formation of transfer layer especially in polymer‐based composites is unavoidable and essential to investigate the effectiveness of transfer layer under working conditions as it decides the material removal between mating parts. The main aim of the present work is to analyze the performance of transfer layer on specific wear rate (SWR) and coefficient of friction (COF) during dry sliding of hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN)/prosopis juliflora (PJ) reinforced polymer matrix composite. The mechanical test results exhibited that 136.4%, 145.7%, and 106.2% improvement in hardness, tensile and flexural properties of the hybrid composites compared to pure epoxy. Pin on disc wear test results showed that 15 wt% of h‐BN and 5 wt% of PJ reinforced hybrid composite produced better wear performance of minimum COF as 0.0912 and SWR as 0.0000151 mm3/Nm. ANOVA analysis results showed that load is major contributing parameter on COF and SWR and their percentage of contribution as 25.40% and 79.38% respectively. Worn surface analysis revealed that the reason behind transfer layer formation and its effectiveness under sliding conditions. The major wear mechanisms are identified as micro cutting and micro plowing followed by matrix crack, fiber debonding, and fiber pull out.