Influence of nanographene filler on sliding and abrasive wear behaviour of Bi-directional carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites

This study investigated the tribological performance of composites, i.e., made of epoxy resin reinforced with bidirectional carbon fibres and graphene nanoparticle additions at different concentrations using pin-on-disc and abrasion tribotesters. The composites were developed using the hand lay-up technique. The sliding test was performed at different applied loads (30 N, 40 N and 50 N) by keeping the sliding distance of 603 m and the sliding speed of 3.35 m/s. The weight loss, specific wear rate and coefficient of friction were determined as a function of load and sliding distance with the fiber-matrix (weight fraction maintained at 60:40). The result shows that the specific wear rate and coefficient of friction varied considerably during the running period and reached stable values at the steady state region. It is also observed that the fiber-matrix bonding characteristics impact the wear properties, and the specific wear rate decreases with the increase in load. The wear surfaces were examined and assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and fiber breakage, fiber fragmentation and adhesive wear are observed. In addition, the dry sand abrasion test was carried out for 5 min (100 rpm) with silica sand as the abrasive media using a chlorobutyl rubber wheel as the liner for the steel disc. The results reveal that the abrasion loss is decreased with an increase in the concentration of nanographene from beyond 0.8 wt% due to the increase in hardness. The SEM images of worn surface features very well support the abrasion tests.