Tribological behavior of natural fiber reinforced PLA composites

The application spectrum of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites is growing rapidly in various engineering fields. The present study explores the possibilities of reinforcing thermoplastic biopolymer with locally available inexpensive plant fibers for developing a new tribo-material. Three different types of natural fibers (nettle, grewia optiva and sisal) were incorporated into PLA polymer to develop laminated composites using a hot compression technique. TGA analysis was carried out to investigate the thermal stability of developed composites. Wear and frictional characteristics of developed composites were investigated under dry contact condition at different operating parameters, such as applied load (10-30 N), sliding speed (1-3 m/s) and sliding distance (1000-3000 m). The experimental results indicate that incorporation of natural fiber mats into PLA matrix significantly improves the wear behavior of neat polymer. There was 10-44% reduction in friction coefficient and more than 70% reduction in specific wear rate of developed composites as compared to neat PLA. The worn surface morphology was studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM) to analyze the wear mechanism in different types of developed composites. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.