Friction and wear of epoxy composites containing surface modified SiC nanoparticles

The authors of the present paper evaluated the sliding wear behaviors of epoxy and its composites filled with untreated and treated SiC nanoparticles. The experimental results indicate that the nanoparticles pretreated by graft polymerization of polyacrylamide effectively improved the overall performance of the matrix epoxy. In comparison with the untreated SiC nanoparticles, the grafted SiC nanoparticles led to more significant reduction in frictional coefficient and wear rate of epoxy. Even under high contact pressure, the composites with grafted SiC nanoparticles possessed the highest wear resistance. The strong interfacial bonding between the grafted SiC nanoparticles and the matrix should account for the properties enhancement. Accordingly, a feasible way of efficiently applying SiC nanoparticles to the preparation of wear resisting nanocomposites has been developed.