Mechanical and Tribological Behavior of ABS/TiO2 Polymer Composites and Optimization of Tribological Properties Using Grey Relational Analysis

Abstract

In the present study, the mechanical and tribological characteristics of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene matrix/titanium dioxide (TiO2) composites are investigated. Further, tensile modulus, tensile strength, flexural modulus, flexural strength and hardness of the composite are evaluated. Also, the tribological characteristics, i.e. friction coefficient and specific wear rate for ABS/TiO2 composites sliding against steel counterface are studied as function of filler content (A), normal load (B) and sliding speed (C). Design of experiments based on L27 orthogonal array is used for experiments in a block-on-roller multi-tribotester. The optimum combinations of design parameters based on experimental results are obtained using grey relational analysis for minimum friction coefficient and specific wear rate. Results show the increase in the tensile and bending modulus with the addition of TiO2 filler monotonically. The tensile and flexural strength increases only up to 10 wt% of filler and hardness increases up to 15 wt% of filler. The optimum combination of parameters for minimum tribological characteristics is found to be 10 wt% filler content, 35 N normal load and 120 rpm sliding speed. The most influential factor which affects the tribological performance is normal load (B) followed by filler content (A) and sliding speed (C) based on analysis of variance. Confirmation test shows that the grey relational grade is increased about 11 % from initial to optimum conditions. Scanning electron microscopy of worn surfaces reveals that wear mechanism is adhesive and abrasive in nature with small longitudinal grooves on the surface of the composites.