Wet friction and wear behavior of graphite-filled carbon fabric composites

Five carbon fabric composites filled with graphite particulates (0%~20%) are fabricated by impregnation. The tribological properties of the carbon fabric composites are investigated on a wet friction tester and the surface morphologies are analyzed using a scanning electron microscope. Experimental results show that the addition of graphite has pronounced effect on the dynamic friction torque but much less effect on the lock-up static friction torque. With addition of graphite, the dynamic friction coefficient is significantly reduced and its stability is improved. The presence of graphite decreases the wear rates of the composites and the counterpart material. Carbon fabric composite containing 15% graphite has the lowest wear rate. The stability coefficient is introduced for quantitative analysis of dynamic friction coefficient. By quantitative analysis, the carbon fabric composites with 10% graphite exhibits the best stability of dynamic friction coefficient.