Two-body and three-body abrasive wear behaviour of polyaryletherketone composites

Single and multipass two-body and three-body abrasive wear behaviour of various polyaryletherketone composites have been carried out by using a pin-on-disc machine and a rubber wheel abrasion test (RWAT) rig. Abrasive wear studies were conducted under different loads and sliding distances. Comparative wear performance of all the composites at different loads shows that specific wear rate (K.) of two-body abrasive wear (single pass condition) is 30-50 times greater than three-body abrasive wear. Also, specific wear rate (K.) of two-body abrasive wear (multipass condition) is 5-12 times greater than three-body abrasive wear. Efforts were made to correlate the abrasive wear performance with the appropriate mechanical properties. The operating wear mechanisms under different experimental condition have also been studied by using scanning electron microscopy. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.