Surface Abrasion Resistance Research Articles

Fabrication of functional polyester fibers by sputter deposition with stainless steel

Abstract The effects of sputtering technological parameters (sputtering power, pressure, and time) on properties of stainless steel (SS)-sputtered polyester (PET) fiber were investigated. The variations in properties such as surface morphology, tensile strength, abrasion resistance, and electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of the prepared PET fiber sputtered under various parameters were discussed. The results indicated that the uniformity and denseness of the sputtered SS film were positively dependent upon the predetermined sputtering variables. The properties such as the breaking strength and abrasion resistance of SS-sputtered PET were remarkably enhanced as compared to the pristine one. It was found that the disorientation of macromolecules in fiber was mainly responsible for the deteriorated strength following wet and/or dry heating. In addition, a woven fabric composed of SS-sputtered fiber exhibited electromagnetic shielding capability. This research indicates that the metal deposition onto textile surfaces using magnetron sputtering is a straightforward approach for potential use in multifunctional materials.

Surface hardness and abrasion resistance natures of thermoplastic polymer covers and windows and their enhancements with curable tetraacrylate coating

Poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(p,p-isopropylidenebisphenyl carbonate), and poly(ethylene terephthalate) are recently attracted more as cover and window materials from various advanced technology fields (smartphones, foldable and rollable smartphones, displays, various sensors in driverless automobiles, etc.) because of their high optical transparency in addition to the good bulk mechanical properties and processibility. However, high surface hardness and abrasion resistances are essential for such advanced applications. In this study, they in sheets have thus been investigated in detail for the first time in terms of surface hardness and abrasion resistance natures by using pencils, eraser sticks, and steel wool pads as surface performance probes. The analyses collectively found that unfortunately they all are unrealistically very weak in surface hardness and abrasion resistances, which might hinder them to be used as transparent cover and window materials despite the reasonably good bulk mechanical properties. Such the poor surface hardness and abrasion resistances could be originated from their unfavorable surface characteristics (limited chain rigidity, larger entanglement molar mass, lower entanglement modulus, less chain entanglement, lower density, amorphous nature, crystallites’ low contribution, lower degree of supercooling (from softening point), and poor elasticity) anchored to the linear polymer chain nature at the surface in contact with air. The drawbacks could be solved by clear hard top coatings with photocrosslinkable ditrimethylolpropane tetraacrylate (DTMP-Acryl4). The clear hard coating with just 1.5 μm thickness remarkably improved the surface hardness by much more than 16 pencil grades, eraser abrasion resistance by more than 46 times, and steel wool abrasion resistance by more than 8 times. Moreover, DTMP-Acryl4 was examined in detail in terms of photoreaction (photoinitiator loading, drying condition, photoexposure energy, and coating thickness), photocrosslinked network structure, morphology, mass density, stress-strain behavior, surface hardness, and abrasion resistances.

Enhancing surface characteristics of additively manufactured fiber reinforced thermoplastic mold using thermoset coating with ceramic particles

A commercially available thermoset polymer liquid coating reinforced with ceramic particles was applied on the surface of an additively manufactured carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites to improve its surface characteristics for composite mold application. The mold demonstrated herein was fabricated via material extrusion additive manufacturing (MEAM) and served for the fabrication of autoclave-cured laminated composite structures. Test specimens used in this investigation were additively manufactured with Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) reinforced with 50% by weight of carbon fiber. Following the printing process, the surface of the specimens was finished in a numerical controlled milling machine. The effect of machining parameters such as the surface speed and the chip load on the surface roughness was investigated. The machining parameters that yielded the lowest surface roughness were used to machine the specimens used in this work. Following machining, an approximately 10 μm thick coating based on a thermoset resin reinforced with ceramic particles was applied on the surface of flat specimens via the liquid spray coating technique and cured at elevated temperature. Surface characteristics relevant to molds used in composite manufacturing such as surface roughness, abrasion resistance , hardness, friction, and vacuum integrity were assessed for the coated and noncoated specimens. The results showed that the coating decreased the abrasion wear index by about 89%, decreased the vacuum loss by about 95%, and lowered the static and kinetic friction by about 40% and 38%, respectively, compared to the non-coated printed material. However, the coated surface did not improve hardness nor roughness of the surface. • Thermoset liquid polymer coating with ceramic particle was applied to additively manufactured fiber reinforced composite. • The abrasion resistance of the additively manufactured carbon fiber reinforced composite was significantly increased with the coating. • The polymer coating did not improve surface hardness and roughness of the additively manufactured carbon fiber reinforced composite. • The coating provided lower static and kinetic surface friction coefficient compared to the non-coated surface of the composite. • Vacuum integrity of the additively manufactured fiber reinforced composite surface was significantly improved with the coating.

An Investigation of the Relationship among Skid Resistance, Mean Texture Depth and Abrasion Resistance for Different Macrotextures of Concrete Pavements

Road accidents are one of the ten major causes of death in the world. Lack of enough friction and skid resistance of the pavement surface are known as important factors in traffic accidents. In this study, to evaluate the relationship between skid resistance and pavement surface macrotexture, five methods of creating macrotexture on concrete pavements were used. Sand Patch test, British Pendulum and Wide Wheel Abrasion tests were employed to obtain mean texture depth, skid resistance and abrasion resistance of the surface, respectively. Results showed that brushing on fresh concrete surface (parallel or perpendicular to the traffic direction) can improve frictional properties of pavement surface, drastically. This method increased British Pendulum Number (BPN) and friction coefficient by 32% and 38% (in average), respectively. Friction coefficient of parallel brushing was quite similar to perpendicular (0.2% discrepancy), while its abrasion resistance was 4% higher. Hence, as a finding, parallel brushing is the most recommended texturing technique in respect to friction. Generally, concrete pavement texturing decreases surface abrasion resistance, but burlap dragging improved this index by 2.5%. Nevertheless, burlap dragging results could be deceptive due to the high sensitivity to initial setup conditions. In other words, measurement scale of the studied testing procedures are small in respect to the scale of protuberances caused by burlap dragging method.

Mechanical and durability properties of steel fiber‐reinforced concrete containing coarse recycled concrete aggregate

AbstractThe focus of this study is to investigate the effect of using coarse recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs) as an alternative material to natural coarse aggregate on the fresh, mechanical and durability behavior of concrete reinforced with steel fiber. Eighteen unique concrete mixes with RCA content of 0%, 50%, and 100% and steel fiber content of 0%, 1%, and 2% were prepared, and tests were performed to study slump, density, compressive and splitting tensile strengths, flexural behavior, surface hardness, surface abrasion resistance, water absorption, and sorptivity of each mix. It is shown that concrete containing RCA has a lower unit weight, compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strength, flexural toughness, surface hardness, and abrasion resistance, and a higher water absorption and sorptivity in comparison with conventional concrete. An increased compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strength, flexural toughness, surface hardness, and abrasion resistance, and a decreased water absorption and sorptivity of concrete with an increased steel fiber content from 1% to 2% is less significant compared to those from 0% to 1%. The results also show that, at RCA content of 50%, incorporating 1% steel fiber develops a concrete mix with similar or even better properties compared to unreinforced conventional concrete. At 100% RCA content, incorporating 2% steel fiber develops a concrete mix with similar properties to unreinforced conventional concrete having water to cement ratio of 0.3, but inferior properties to unreinforced conventional concrete having water to cement ratio of 0.5. These findings indicate that recycled aggregate concrete with similar or even better properties compared to concrete with natural aggregate can be developed through properly designing mixes, providing a great avenue toward the production of green construction material for structural applications.

Enhanced surface hardening of hydrated concrete composite by strontium nitrate (Sr(NO3)2) aqueous solution

This study experimentally investigates the effects of strontium nitrate (Sr(NO3)2) aqueous solution on hardened concrete composite as a surface hardening method. Density, void content, water sorptivity, and surface abrasion resistance of the concrete mixture treated by Sr(NO3)2 solution were measured under diverse curing and treatment scenarios. The results showed that 30% Sr(NO3)2 aqueous solution increases the density by 1.0% and 2.2% and also decreases the void content by 7.4% and 14.4% with the water-cement ratio (w/c) of 0.5 and 0.4, respectively. Water sorptivity of the treated hardened concrete was decreased by 26.4% and 34.0% from the lithium silicate and sodium silicate treatments, respectively. In addition, the Sr(NO3)2 treatment increases the surface abrasion by 45% from the control specimen and about 25–30% from the two silicate-based treatments. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS), and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) were conducted to investigate the micro-morphologies, microstructure, and elemental characteristics. The results illustrate that (1) microstructures of hydrated cement matrix are densified, (2) portlandite (CH) in the matrix decreases as time elapses, (3) multiple types of hydrated aluminosilicate minerals (i.e. zeolites) are formulated, and (4) more subsequent polymerization related to C–S–H/C-A-S-H occurs. Lastly, the densifying and strengthening mechanisms of the hydrated cement by the Sr(NO3)2 treatment process are presented and discussed.

High-temperature and abrasion-resistant metal-insulator-metal metamaterials

Selective solar absorbers (SSAs) with high performance are the key to concentrated solar power systems. Optical metamaterials are emerging as a promising strategy to enhance selective photon absorption, however, the high-temperature stability (>500 °C) remains as one of the main challenges for practical applications. Here, a multilayered metamaterial system (Al2O3/W/SiO2/W) based on metal-insulator-metal Fabry-Pérot resonance effect has been demonstrated with high solar absorptance over 92%, low thermal emittance loss below 6% (100 °C blackbody), and significant high-temperature thermal stability: it has been proved that the optical performance remains 94% after 1-h thermal annealing under ambient environment up to 500 °C, and 94% after 96-h thermal cycle test at 400 °C. Outdoor tests demonstrate that a peak temperature rise (193.5 °C) can be achieved with unconcentrated solar irradiance and surface abrasion resistance test yields that SSAs have a robust resistance to abrasion attack for engineering applications.

Enhancement of mechanical properties of fly ash geopolymer containing fine recycled concrete aggregate with micro carbon fiber

In this study, the micro carbon fiber (CF) was used to enhance the mechanical properties of fly ash geopolymer containing fine recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). Natural river sand was replaced with RCA at 0, 50, and 100% by volume. The CF was used as additive material by incorporating into the mixture at 0, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3% by weight of fly ash. The results showed that the CF enhanced the mechanical properties of geopolymer containing RCA through the increased nucleation sites for geopolymerization reaction and the bridging effect of the fiber. For the mix with 100% RCA, the incorporation of 0.2% CF resulted geopolymer mortar with higher compressive and splitting tensile strengths. For the flexural strength and surface abrasion resistance, best results were obtained with the use of 50%RCA with significant improvement in both flexural strength and surface abrasion resistance. The incorporation of CF thus increases the use of recycled fine aggregate without resort to natural fine aggregate.

Surface functionalization of nanostructured Cu/Ag-deposited polypropylene fiber by magnetron sputtering

Abstract Metallic nanoparticles are widely used due to their superior electrical, antimicrobial, and electromagnetic shielding characteristics. In this work, the surface functionalization of polypropylene (PP) fibers using magnetron sputtering with pure Cu and Ag targets in the presence of Ar gas was systematically investigated, in detail, in terms of surface morphology, tensile, abrasion resistance, moisture regain, antibacterial, and electrostatic properties. The results indicated that the nanocomposite films deposited on the PP surface were even and dense under proper treatment conditions. Compared with pristine fiber, breaking tenacity, abrasion resistance, and antibacterial properties of the Cu/Ag-deposited PP fibers were significantly improved, whereas the extension at break and moisture regain decreased in different degrees. Also, the electrostatic property of treated PP fabrics was studied. This work reveals that surface functionalization of Cu/Ag-deposited PP fiber is versatile, and the surface treatment that uses metallic nanoparticles by magnetron sputtering is a promising approach for achieving multifunctional textiles.

A Method of Plasma Quenching in the Gun Barrel

In order to extend the service life of the barrel and improve its corrosion resistance and wear resistance, plasma quenching technology successfully processed the inner hole material. The treatment effect is obtained by making the analysis of the microstructure, hardness and tribological properties. The results show that the plasma quenching of the barrel material can form a martensitic hardening layer on the surface, when the surface hardness is increased by 725 HV, and the surface abrasion resistance is enhanced by 10 times. This technology provides a new way to extend the life of the barrel.

Quality Evaluation of Carburized Surfaces of Steels Used in Military Technology

Carburizing is used in applications where there is a high demand for surface hardness and abrasion resistance along with core toughness requirements. Carburizing is mainly used for parts which are subjected to abrasion, such as shafts, pins, gears, cams, etc. At the same time as the hardness of the surface layer increases, the fatigue limit of the steel increases after carburizing. The article deals with the evaluation of surface quality of carburized steels 16MnCr5 and 14NiCr14 in terms of surface texture change and dimension change after application of car-burizing. The analysed steels are used mainly in the production of gear wheels for gearboxes of wheeled, tracked and artillery. Furthermore, the coefficients of friction and wear were evaluated on these steels. The functional surfaces of heat-treated steels were analysed after grinding and after gas carburizing. The evaluation of the sur-face quality results in a deterioration of the surface roughness and an increase in dimensions after carburizing. The coefficient of friction after carburizing reaches a higher value compared to ground surfaces, while the coeffi-cient of wear decreases.

Evaporation-driven self-assembly of binary and ternary colloidal polymer nanocomposites for abrasion resistant applications

We harness the self-assembly of aqueous binary latex/silica particle blends during drying to fabricate films segregated by size in the vertical direction. We report for the first time the experimental drying of ternary colloidal dispersions and demonstrate how a ternary film containing additional small latex particles results in improved surface stability and abrasion resistance compared with a binary film. Through atomic force microscopy (AFM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), we show that the vertical distribution of filler particles and the surface morphologies of the films can be controlled by altering the evaporation rate and silica volume fraction. We report the formation of various silica superstructures at the film surface, which we attribute to a combination of diffusiophoresis and electrostatic interactions between particles. Brownian dynamics simulations of the final stages of solvent evaporation provide further evidence for this formation mechanism. We show how an additional small latex particle population results in an increased abrasion resistance of the film without altering its morphology or hardness. Our work provides a method to produce water-based coatings with enhanced abrasion resistance as well as valuable insights into the mechanisms behind the formation of colloidal superstructures.

Microstructural study and surface properties of concrete pavements containing nanoparticles

This investigation focused on the effect of nanoparticles on microstructural surface characteristics, abrasion, and skid resistance of concrete pavements. Firstly, the percentage of optimal replacement of nanoparticles was determined. In the second part, the nano-modified concrete similar to mortars in terms of water-to-cement and sand-to-cement ratio were made to study the abrasion resistance and British pendulum number (BPN) as skid resistance property. Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were applied to accurately evaluate the microstructural properties. Concerning concrete containing different nanoparticles, nano-montmorillonite yielded the most considerable improvement in abrasion resistance (about 23%). By examining the MIP results, a good correlation was observed between the volume of the large pores plus the average pore size and the volume reduction in the abrasion test. By comparing the effect of nanoparticles on improving the skid resistance under wet and dry conditions, it was found that the samples containing nanoparticles in dry conditions generated more significant improvements (about 20%) compared with the wet conditions (about 7%). The results of the AFM test revealed that improvement in samples containing nanoparticles was because of increased surface roughness and enhanced surface adhesion due to Van Der Waals forces.

Effect of Pattern-Less Forming Process on Quality of Sand Mold Surface

The pattern-less sand mold was used as the research object, surface quality of sand mold was carried out by using surface abrasion tester. In this paper, the influence of sand material such as the types of sand, resin contents and extrusion pressure on the surface quality was studied through the single-factor test. The results showed that: different sand mold had different surface abrasive resistance. The angle coefficient of sand has a great influence on the surface abrasive resistance of the sand mold. With the increase of extrusion force, the surface abrasive resistance of sand mold increased. And as the resin content increased, the surface abrasive resistance of sand mold continued to increase.

Evaluation of the use of steel slag in micro surfacing

Micro surfacing (MS) is a type of bituminous coating frequently applied in the surface of pavement structures in order to prevent the occurrence of common distress and/or as a maintenance procedure. Micro surfacing has successfully been used in some states of Brazil as well as in many countries all over the world. Local aggregates used for micro surfacing composition are in some cases scarce and/or expensive. Therefore, the main objective of the present research is to verify the technical, financial and environmental viability of using steel slag aggregate (SSA) in micro surfacing applications. To reach the main objective, a procedure was developed in four steps. In the first step it was made the characterization of conventional (granitic) and alternative aggregates (steel slag) and polymer-modified emulsified asphalt. In the second step, mix design, surface abrasion resistance and setting time tests were performed. In the third step, the micro surfacing mechanical performance was analyzed using a laboratory traffic simulator to observe accumulated permanent deformation; surface wear; micro texture and macro texture. In the fourth step, a comparative study of costs concerning micro surfacing application using conventional mineral aggregate (MS-MA) and alternative aggregates (MS-SSA) were performed. The laboratory procedure results indicated that the steel slag studied has the potential to be used in micro surfacing applications with more rutting resistance and better durability. The cost analysis showed for medium transport distances bigger than 60 km, the MS-SSA will be cheaper than MS-MA solution.

Study on Surface Modification of Aluminum Alloy Electron Beam for Surgical Medical Devices

Surgical and medical devices need excellent lightweight, surface abrasion resistance, corrosion resistance and other characteristics. In this paper, the surface modification of 6061 aluminum alloy commonly used in medicine is studied. The method of electron beam cladding 1Cr13 stainless steel powder is used to improve aluminum. The surface hardness and abrasion resistance were studied. The influence of electron beam process parameters on the cladding effect was studied. This method Provides new ideas for upgrading the industrialization of medical devices.

Surface characterization, mechanical and abrasion resistance of nanocellulose-reinforced wood panels

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are promising particles in the production of wood fibre nanocomposites, due to their high stiffness, mechanical strength and low density. Wood fibres are the main source of cellulose, thus allowing the direct extraction of CNCs. As an attempt to improve the quality of wood fibre panels, this work performed topographical, tribological and mechanical characterization of medium density fibreboard (MDF) reinforced with CNCs at different concentrations, by substituting from 2 to 6% of the urea formaldehyde resin by acidic CNCs. The results showed no significant differences in the topographic characteristics and abrasion wear rates due to the incorporation of CNCs, although a tendency to obtain rougher panels was observed. The addition of CNCs at low proportions affected negatively the adhesion between the resin and the fibres, compromising the mechanical properties of the panels. On the other hand, some properties such as the modulus of rupture and hardness showed a tendency to recover when the amount of CNCs increased from 2 to 6%. The analysis of the microstructure of the worn samples showed more severe wear in the regions of poor adhesion between the fibres and the resin.

The Abrasion Behaviour of X40CrMoV5-1 Steel Under Various Surface Treatments

Abstract For evolving a surface layer on the X40CrMoV5-1 steel, a plasma-nitridation and PVD coating process was applied. In our experiments, the samples were heat-treated (high-temperature hardening, annealed three times) and surface treatments (plasma-nitridation, PVD coating by TiAlN, duplex surface treating by plasma nitridation and after that, PVD coating TiAlN). After the heat treatments, we performed hardness tests and surface abrasion wear tests. The abrasion wear resistance of the specimens was studied in order to understand the heat treatment effects on abrasion behaviour. It was observed that the heat treatment and surface treatment process greatly influence the tool steel surface hardness and abrasion resistance behaviour. By plasma-nitridation the surface hardness doubled compared to the quenched surface hardness while the PVD coated TiAlN surface layer hardness is more than five times that of the hardened one. There was no relevant difference between the PVD coated (TiAlN) surface hardness and the duplex surface-treated hardness. On the basis of the results of the comparative abrasive wear tests, it can be concluded that the duplex surface treatment resulted in the greatest wear resistance..

Experimental investigation surface abrasion resistance and surface frost resistance of concrete pavement incorporating fly ash and slag

ABSTRACT This investigation was carried out to study the effects of the type and amount of supplementary cementitious materials on mechanical properties and surface durability of Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement. Three supplementary cementitious materials, two types of fly ash and one ground granulated blast furnace slag, were selected to substitute for a portion of Portland cement with three level contents (5, 15, 25 wt% and 15, 25, 35 wt% for single and compound adding, respectively) in the concrete mixtures. Properties of the concrete were evaluated in laboratory including compressive strength, flexural strength, surface abrasion resistance, surface frost resistance,and microstructure analysis. The results show that the early age strength values of concretes were affected as increasing the replacement contents regardless of fly ash and slag. Effects of both the type and dosage of supplementary cementitious materials on surface abrasion resistance and frost resistance of concrete were remarkable. The concrete with slag had poorer wear resistance than reference concrete and those with fly ash. In addition, general fly ash concrete had worse surface frost resistance than other mixtures, and concrete with slag exhibited better surface frost resistance in saturated sodium chloride solution than reference one and fly ash concrete.

Surface abrasion resistance of high-volume fly ash concrete modified by graphene oxide: Macro- and micro-perspectives

Recent studies have demonstrated that graphene oxide (GO) can be used as a promising nano-sized additive to improve the mechanical properties and durability performances of cement composites. In this laboratory study, the effect of admixed GO on the properties of high-volume fly ash (HVFA) concrete, especially its surface abrasion resistance, was investigated. Compressive strength, microhardness, and tribological properties of HVFA mixtures were also measured to investigate their possible correlations with the abrasion resistance. The addition of GO (up to 0.1% by weight of cementitious materials) increased the compressive strength at the macro level and friction coefficient at the micro level, both of which could be related to the surface abrasion resistance of HVFA concrete. Microhardness and scratch test results showed that the HVFA mixtures achieved the best performance with GO admixed at 0.05 wt%, which was confirmed by the microstructure investigations by XRD and SEM/EDS. In addition, the agglomeration of GO may occur at a dosage higher than 0.05 wt%.