Tribo performance of polyaryletherketone composites

The mechanical and tribological properties of various injection-moulded polyaryletherketones (PAEKs) and their composites are presented in this paper, The mechanical properties studied were tensile strength. tensile modulus. elongation at break, flexural strength. flexural modulus, hardness and impact strength. Composites were characterized by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Fibre length distributions of various PAEK composites were also characterized. Abrasive wear studies of PAEKs and their composites were carried out under multipass conditions against silicon carbide (SiC) abrasive paper by using a pin-on-disc machine. The influence of variables such as sliding distance, load and abrasive grit size was investigated. It was observed that the fibre reinforcement reduced the abrasive wear resistance of neat PAEK matrix. Combinations of fibre and particulate filler are more detrimental to abrasive wear performance. Various mechanical properties such as hardness, ultimate tensile strength and elongation at break were analysed for investigating wear property correlations. Worn samples and abrasive paper were also studied with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.