The Friction and Wear Properties of ECP Surface-Treated Kevlar Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastic Polymide Composites

Epoxy chloropropane (ECP) grafting modification method was used for the surface treatment of Kevlar fiber to improve the interfacial adhesion of the Kevlar fiber-reinforced polyimide (PI) composite. The surface characteristics of untreated and treated Kevlar fiber were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscope. The friction and wear properties of the polyimide (PI) composites filled with differently surface treated Kevlar fibers (20 vol%), sliding against GCr15 steel, were investigated on a ball-on-block reciprocating UMT-2MT tribometer. Experimental results revealed that ECP treatment largely reduced the friction and wear of Kevlar/PI composites. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) investigation of worn surfaces of PI composites showed that ECP treated Kevlar/PI composite had the strongest interfacial adhesion and the smoothest worn surface under given load and reciprocating sliding frequency.