Articles

Degradation of carbon reinforced epoxy composites under sliding in ambient air

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Abstract

For many technical applications friction and wear are critical issues. Polymer compositesreinforced by different components are currently widely used in various automotive and aerospaceapplications as well as structural engineering. However, the degradation of such composite materials infretting contacts leads to change and loss of the material in use and the contact behaviour of thesematerials depend on the counter body, reinforcements, and operation time. In this paper, the wear andcoefficient of friction of bulk epoxy and carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite have been investigatedunder reciprocating sliding against alumina and stainless steel balls in ambient air. The effect of slidingdirection with respect to the long and unidirectional carbon fibers has been studied. The coefficient offriction measured for the bulk epoxy against stainless steel and alumina is around 0.65, whereas the valuesmeasured for the epoxy reinforced with carbon fibers are significantly lower. It was found that sliding withstainless steel in a direction parallel to the fiber orientation results in a lower coefficient of friction thanunder sliding in anti parallel direction. The reduced wear volume of the composite is largely influenced bythe carbon fiber reinforcement due the auto-protecting film formed on the contact area.

How to Cite:

Dhieb, H., Buijnsters, J. & Celis, J., (2011) “Degradation of carbon reinforced epoxy composites under sliding in ambient air”, International Journal of Sustainable Construction and Design 2(1), 53-58. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/scad.v2i1.20435