Mechanical and Three-body Abrasive Wear Behavior of Carbon-Epoxy Composite With and Without Graphite Filler

Fiber and particulate reinforced polymeric composites are known to possess high strength and attractive wear resistance in dry sliding conditions. Though the reinforcement and/filler type are known to control the properties, less is known about their tribo performance especially with graphite as filler material. How these composites perform in abrasive wear situations needs a proper understanding. Hence, the present investigation reports on the mechanical and three-body abrasive wear behavior of carbon fabric reinforced epoxy (C-E) and silane treated graphite filled C-E (Gr-C-E) composites. The mechanical properties were evaluated using Universal testing machine. In three-body wear tests, quartz particles of size 150-200 mu m were used as dry and loose abrasives. Three-body abrasive wear tests were conducted using rubber wheel abrasion tester under different loads/abrading distances. The results showed that the wear volume increased with increasing abrading distance and the specific wear rate decreased with abrading distance/load and depends on filler loading. However, the presence of silane treated graphite filler in C-E showed a promising trend. Further, the abrasive wear volume of composites has been correlated with mechanical properties such as hardness, tensile strength and percentage elongation. The worn surface features, when examined through scanning electron microscopy, showed more number of broken carbon fibers in C-E compared to graphite filled C-E composites.