Tribological Study in Case of Polymeric Composite Materials Reinforced with Unidirectional Carbon Fibers Having Stratified Structure

This paper presents a study of the tribological properties of polymeric composite materials reinforced with unidirectional carbon fibers having stratified structure. Unidirectional reinforces carbon fiber materials are more effective if refer to specific properties per unit volume compared to conventional isotropic materials. Potential benefits of carbon fibers composite materials are: high resistance to breakage and high value ratios strength/density; resistance to high temperatures; low density and high resistance to wear; low or high friction coefficient. The composites are complex and versatile materials but their behaviour in practice is not fully studied. For instance, polymeric composite materials reinforced with carbon fibers after being investigated in terms of wear, did not elucidate the effect of fiber orientation on wear properties. Is therefore necessary to investigate the effect of carbon fibers orientation on the friction - wear properties of the reinforced composite materials tested to adhesive and abrasive wear. Research work has been done with unidirectional composite materials having overlap 16 successive layers made from a polymeric resin and 60% of carbon fibers. The stratified structure was obtained by compressing multiple pre-impregnated strips, positioned manually. During this experimental work, three types of test samples were investigated: normal, parallel and anti-parallel, taking in consideration the carbon fibre orientation with respect to the sliding direction. The specific wear rate was calculated according to: the mass loss, density, the normal contact surface, the sliding distance and load rating. The friction coefficient is computed function to the friction load and loading value.