Tribological behaviors of carbon composite grooved surfaces

The tribological behavior of carbon epoxy composites whose surfaces have many small grooves of 100 mu m width was experimentally investigated with respect to the sliding direction against groove orientation, surface pressure (P) and velocity (V). The wear mechanism of the composites was observed to calculate the wear volume with the friction coefficient using scanning electron microscopic (SEM). Experimental results show that the abrasive wear is dominant wear mechanism for the grooved composite surface and the friction and wear are greatly reduced when the sliding direction is parallel to the axis of groove because abrasive particles are removed through the grooves effectively. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.