Friction and wear characteristics of carbon-epoxy and glass-epoxy woven roving fiber composites

Polymer materials when reinforced with high modulus fibers yield higher strength, higher stiffness, better toughness, and good dimensional stability. Fiber reinforcements are effective in reducing wear in adhesive situations in addition to increasing the strength and stiffness. The adhesive conditions are generally encountered in automotive and aerospace applications. In such applications, the types of reinforcement material used are important from the point of improved performance under different tribo situations. In this particular investigation, carbon-epoxy (C-E) composite is compared with that of glass-epoxy (G-E) composites for tribological properties using a pin-on-disc set up. The tests are conducted by subjecting C-E samples sliding against a hard steel disc (62 HRC) under different sliding and loading conditions. This article highlights the friction and wear behavior of these composites run for a constant sliding distance, where in the C-E composites show lower friction and lower slide wear loss compared to G-E composites irrespective of the load or speed employed. Some of the wear data are supported by the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images.