Tribology of fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites

Abstract

The use of fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites (FRPCs) is in boom in many structural, industrial, automotive, and engineering applications. Polymer matrix composites have been turned out the most hopeful material which can replace the conventional materials, metals, and woods. Owing to this the demand for analyzing the tribological behavior of FRPCs is amplified. In the current article an inclusive literature survey on the tribological behavior of FRPCs in terms of friction and wear properties of composite materials is explored. The paper reviews the effects of different operating parameters and material parameters on wear rate and frictional behavior of FRPCs. The analysis reveals that operating parameters like sliding velocity, sliding distance, load, temperature and material parameters like a fiber volume fraction, orientation of fibers, fiber length, filler content, and effect of surface treatment have a significant effect on the tribological behavior of composite material. The wear rate of FRPCs is controlled by adding the proper amount of filler content and fiber orientation.

Keywords

Wear friction composites synthetic fiber polymer matrix composites natural fiber polymer matrix composites tribology

Introduction

The simplest definition of tribology is the study of friction, wear, and lubrication between two rotating elements. Analysis of tribological behavior is important for the reason that wear and friction related failures lead to heavy cost to the industry and shut down the industries. Due to growth in structural and automotive industries, conservation of metals and natural resources like wood is a major issue. Consequently, there is a need to replace the conventional material by composite materials which can perform in the inflexible conditions like high load, high temperature, and high corrosive and high pressure.¹ Chandramohan and Marimuthu have revealed the advantages of composite materials over the conventional materials. Composites provide very good strength to the weight ratio, so it is favorable in most of the design needs. Composites are in demand nowadays, due to its characteristics like light weight, high strength, corrosion resistance, high fatigue strength, less noisy in operation condition, etc.² Among the four groups of tribo-materials, such as polymer matrix composites (PMCs), metal matrix composites (MMCs), ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) and carbon-carbon composites (CCCs), PMCs are widely used due to its less weight, self lubrication properties, resistance to wear, and corrosion.³

Natural fiber reinforced composite materials are attractive over the conventional material due to its easy accessibility, renewability, lower weight, less price, low density, and biodegradability.⁴ India has rich accessibility of natural fibers such as jute, banana, cotton, coconut, sisal, pineapple, ramie, oil palm, bamboo, etc.⁵ In this article attempts have been made to determine the effect of various operating parameters and material parameters on wear rate and friction coefficient of the fiber reinforced composites. In view with this article effort is motivated towards the use of fiber reinforced composite materials from the tribological point of views.

Analysis of tribological properties of synthetic fiber PMCs

FRPCs form a very important class of tribo materials. Many of the engineering systems are failing due to the extensive wear and friction. Friction and wear rate of the composites depend on the materials selected for reinforcement and resin, manufacturing process, operating parameters, fiber volume fraction, fiber orientation, fiber length, and surface treatments. No material is perfect for all types of wear modes. Tribo properties of composites can be predicted only by evaluating them in the laboratory under the different operating conditions.

Bijwe et al. have worked on friction and wear behavior of polyetherimide glass fiber composites with varying fiber percentage and under different wear modes. The author has revealed that rate of wear resistance of composites is different for different types of wear modes and fiber percentage.⁶

Kolluri et al. have identified the effect of temperature on friction and wear of phenolic composites. He has proved that irrespective of graphite particle size and loading condition with increasing temperature friction, wear rate of the phenolic composites increases.⁷ Charanjit and Lakhvir identified the effect of Sic fillers on Al composites prepared by powder metallurgy and proved that Sic contents improve the wear resistance of the composites.⁸ Basavarajappa and Chandramohan have carried out the wear study for MMCs.⁹ Antaryami carried out work on the tribological behavior of rubber dust epoxy composite with varying rubber percentage and proved that 10% of rubber dust specimen give maximum wear resistance.¹⁰ Nguong has quoted that nano particles like silica carbide and nano clay increase the tribological properties of polymer composites.¹¹ Shivamurthy et al.¹² worked on glass fiber epoxy composite with SiO₂ as filler; Rajesh et al.¹³ have worked on Al matrix with red mud fillers; Basavarajappa et al.¹⁴ have worked on glass fiber epoxy with SiO₂ fillers. All the studies reveal that fillers play an important role in controlling the wear rate of the composite materials.

Table 1 shows the various research in the field of wear and friction analysis of synthetic fiber PMCs.

Table 1.

Wear and friction analysis of synthetic fiber polymer matrix composites.

Research	Polymer	Fiber	Fillers	Variables	Manufacture technique	Dry sliding		Observed wear mechanism
Research	Polymer	Fiber	Fillers	Variables	Manufacture technique	Coefficient of friction	Wear rate	Observed wear mechanism
Tayeb⁴	Polyester	Glass	–	FL, L	Molding	Decrease	Decrease	Plastic deformation
Charanjit and Lakhvir⁸		Al	Sic	L, FVF	Powder metallurgy	–	Decrease	–
Bijwe et al.⁶	PEI	Glass	Graphite, MoS₂, PTFE	L	–	–	Decrease	Adhesion
Wan et al.¹⁵	Epoxy	Carbon	–	L, SD	Resin transfer molding	Decrease	Decrease	Worn surfaces
Kolluri et al.⁷	Phenolic	Graphite	–	L, T	Compression molding	High T high FF	High T high wear	–
Munium and Algbory¹⁶	Epoxy	Carbon	–	L, SV, sliding time, FVF	Hand lay up	–	Decrease	–
Yousif¹⁷	Polyester	Glass	–	Speed, FO	Hand lay up	Decrease	Decrease	Back transfer polymer film
Antaryami¹⁰	Epoxy	Rubber dust	–	Speed, L, time	Molding	–	Decrease	Abrasive
Shivamurthy et al.¹²	Epoxy	Glass	SiO₂	L, filler content	Cylindrical mold	Decrease	Decrease	Adhesion
Rajesh et al.¹³	–	Al	Red mud	L, SV, FVF	Powder metallurgy	Decrease	Decrease	Adhesive
Mohan et al.¹⁸	Epoxy	Glass	Sic	SD	Hand lay up	Decrease	Decrease	Debonding, fiber breakage
Basavarajappa et al.¹⁴	Epoxy	Glass	Graphite and Sic	SV, L, SD	Hand lay up	–	Decrease	–

L: load, SD: sliding distance, SV: sliding velocity, T: temperature, FO: fiber orientation, FVF: fiber volume fraction.

Due to environmental appeal development of high sustainable materials from the natural resources is increasing. Research shows that since last decade, the research concentration in various natural fibers has been increased enormously due to its best properties like biodegradability, low cost, ease of availability, and low weight. The main drawback of natural fibers is biodegradability as it is the main property of celluloses. Hemicelluloses absorb the moisture and degrade the material due to oxidization. This can be improved by modifying fibers by chemical or physical treatments.¹⁸ Hence it is worth to analyze the tribological properties of natural fiber reinforced composites.

Tribological properties of natural fiber PMCs

Tribological properties of fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites (FRPCs) are affected by different operating parameters and material parameters. Here effort have made by the authors to illustrate major parameters responsible for the excessive wear and friction.

Fiber orientation

Fibers and resin materials are combined together and produce composites. In the composites the fibers work as reinforcement and take up maximum load; how the fibers are oriented has a major effect on the friction and wear behavior of the materials.

Various investigations of fiber orientation like normal, parallel, anti parallel, and random are listed by many researchers. Investigators have combined different natural fiber with polymer resin and studied its tribological characteristics. Jute and linen with unsaturated polyester resin,²⁰ bagasse fiber with epoxy resin,²¹ bamboo fibers with epoxy,²² powered bamboo fiber with polyester reinforcement,²³ Kenaf fiber with epoxy resin,²⁴ and all have land up with the same conclusion that normal orientation gives minimum wear rate while the random gives maximum wear rate. The author revealed that fiber orientation has a significant effect on the wear rates. These wear rates are based on different operating parameters and could not directly apply to the fiber.

Fiber volume fraction

The fibers take up maximum load in the composites as the fiber volume fraction increased load carrying capacity of the composites also increase but the research review reveals that fiber up to certain limit increases the load carrying capacity after that it is responsible for the debonding between fiber and resin. Several studies have been carried out on natural fibers: Chittaranjan Deo and Acharya²⁵ worked on Lantana camara with polymer matrix; Gangulari Kranthi et al.²⁶ focused on pin wood dust with epoxy resin and different fiber weight fraction; Aireddy²⁷ worked on coir fiber with polymer matrix and fiber range 10–60%. Gohil Piyush and Shaikh⁵ have worked on banana epoxy reinforced composite and reveal the effect of fiber volume fraction on mechanical characterisation of composites. Schon²⁸ worked on carbon fiber with fiber volume fraction 3–9% with epoxy resin. In all these studies it is concluded that high percentage factor of fiber volume fraction deteriorates the wear and friction properties and due to the poor bonding between the fiber and the resin.

Fiber length

Fiber length plays a vital role to create interfacial bonding between fiber and matrix. In the theoretical sense too short length reduces the load carrying capacity of fiber and responsible for high wear rate and excessive length results in easy pull out of the fibers and produces more wear rate. Several experimental works carried out by different researcher: Bhoopathi et al.²⁹ experimented on borassus fruit fiber with various fiber lengths with epoxy resin. Mahapatra and Vedansh³⁰ have worked on sugar cane fiber with different fiber length and all these experiments proved that fiber with the medium length provides good wear and frictional properties compared to the too low and too high fiber length.

Surface treatment

Natural fibers mainly contain cellulose and cellulose is responsible for degradation of material. Fibers are hydrophilic in the nature while the matrix is hydrophobic in the nature, due to this very weak bond forms between fiber and the matrix. To overcome this problem many research were carried out.

Yousif and El-Tayeb³¹ have investigated the effect of NaOH treatment on oil palm polyester composites. Wong et al.³² have identified the effect of alkaline treatment on bamboo fibers. Rao Chandra et al.³³ and Majhi et al.³⁴ performed benzoline treatment on coir and rice husk fibers respectively with epoxy resin. Ishak et al.³⁵ have identified the effect of sea water treatment on sugarcane fiber. Yousif Belal et al.³⁶ register a patent for the effect of surface treatment on coir fiber FRPCs. All the studies came with the same conclusion that surface treatment plays an important role in increasing adhesion between the fiber and the matrix.

Operating parameters

Yousif et al.³⁷ have done wear analysis on betelnut and Navin C¹⁹ have done wear analysis of sisal fiber polyester composites under different loading condition. Narish et al.³⁸ have worked on kenaf fiber under different load and sliding distance conditions. Gohil Piyush et al.³⁹ have identified the effect of various operating parameters on glass fiber epoxy composites. It is proved from different studies that wear performance of the composites depends on the different operating parameters.

In this article several works have been studied and listed in Table 2 for the wear rate and friction coefficient of different types of natural fiber PMCs.

Table 2.

Wear and friction analysis of natural fiber polymer matrix composites.

Research	Polymer	Fiber	Treatment/fillers	Variables	Manu Tech.	Dry sliding		Observed wear mechanism
Research	Polymer	Fiber	Treatment/fillers	Variables	Manu Tech.	Coefficient of friction	Wear rate	Observed wear mechanism
Chittaranjan Deo and Acharya²⁵	Epoxy	Lantana camara	–	FVF, L, SD	Molding	Decrease	Decrease	Abrasion
Chin and Yousif²⁴	Epoxy	Kenaf	–	FO, L, SD, SV	Molding	Increasing	Decrease	Adhesion
Ganguluri Kranthi et al.²⁶	Epoxy	Pin wood dust	–	FVF, SD, SV, L	–	–	Decrease	–
Yousif et al.³⁷	Polyester	Betelnut fruit fiber	–	SD, L	Hand lay up	Increasing	Decrease	Macro and micro cracks, debonding and fiber pullout
Punyapriya and Acharya²¹	Epoxy	Sugar cane	–	FO, L	Hand lay up	–	Decrease	Micro cutting and micro ploughing
Sayed EI et al.²⁰	Polyester	Linen and jute	–	FVF	Molding	Increasing	Decrease	Fiber debonding
Yousif Belal et al.³⁶	Polyester	Coir	Alkaline	SD, L	Hand lay up	Increasing	Decrease	Adhesion
Bhoopathi et al.²⁹	Epoxy	Borassus fruit fiber	Alkaline	L, SV, FL	Cylindrical mold	Decrease	Decrease	Micro cracks
Yousif and El-Tayeb³¹	Polyester	Untreated and treated oil palm	Alkaline	SD, L	Cylindrical mold	Decrease	Decrease	Debonding
Nirmal et al.²²	Epoxy	Bamboo	–	L, FO, SD	Hand lay up	Decrease	Decrease	Back film transfer
Majhi et al.³⁴	Epoxy	Rice husk	Benzolylation	L, FVF	Cylindrical mold	–	Decrease	Abrasive
Dwivedi Umesh et al.²³	Polyester	Bamboo powder	–	FVF, SD	Cylindrical mold	–	Decrease	Abrasive
Rao Chandra et al.³³	Epoxy	Coir	Benzolylation	FVF, L, speed	Cylindrical mold	–	Decrease	Abrasive
Narish Singh et al.⁴⁰	Polyurethane (PE)	Kenaf	Alkaline	FO, L, SD	Hand lay up	Decrease APO	Decrease for NO	Plastic deformation
Nguong et al.⁴¹	Epoxy	Recycled cellulose fiber	Nano SIC Nano clay	–	–	–	Decrease	–

Summary

From Tables 1 and 2 it is seen that tribological characterization of various fiber reinforced polymers (natural and synthetic fiber along with thermoplastic and thermosetting matrix) has been carried out by many researchers. The main factors that affect the friction and wear properties are either operating parameters or material parameters. In the operating parameters most influenced parameters are load, sliding distance, sliding velocity, and temperature while the material parameters are fiber length, fiber orientation, and fiber volume fraction. Along with this chemical and physical treatment, types of fillers and manufacturing techniques play an important role in friction and wear properties.

Most of all the works (for natural fiber reinforced composites) have been carried out without finding the effect of lubrication, but in actual application lubrication might be involved so the experiments can be explored to find out the effect of lubrication on the wear rate.

Composites made from the synthetic fibers can be made using any manufacturing technique like compression molding, resin transfer molding, and hand lay up technique. But the concept of pultrusion process was not used frequently. Study reveals that by pultrusion process amount of fiber content can increase which helps in controlling wear rate.³⁹

Footnotes

Conflict of interest

None declared.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Tribology of fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites—A review

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Analysis of tribological properties of synthetic fiber PMCs

Tribological properties of natural fiber PMCs

Fiber orientation

Fiber volume fraction

Fiber length

Surface treatment

Operating parameters

Summary

Footnotes

Conflict of interest

Funding

References