Influence of Load and Speed on Sliding Tribology of Silica-Polyamide Composites against AISI 4140 Steel

The wear behavior of polyamide (PA6) matrix composites filled with silica particles is discussed in this paper. The tribological characteristics of pure PA6 and 5, 10, 30 wt% silica (SiO2) filled PA6 composites were comparatively evaluated under dry sliding conditions. Wear tests were carried out at room temperature under the loads of 5, 10, and 20 N and at the sliding speeds of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m/s. The wear test results showed that the silica particles could improve the wear resistance and the friction coefficient of the PA6 matrix even though the content of the fillers was 5-30% by weight. The friction coefficient of the PA6 was getting decreased from 0.420 to 0.213 with an increase in silica content, depending on applied loads and sliding speeds. The results showed that the wear rates of pure PA6 and silica filled PA6 composites increase with increase in loads. The wear rate of the PA6 decreased from 4.2 x 10(-6) mm(3)/m to 6.0 x 10(-7) mm(3)/m with an increase in silica content depending on applied loads. This makes it possible to develop novel type of polyamide-based composite with improved wear resistance for various applications.