TITLE:
Effect of Nanofillers on Abrasion Resistance of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Phenolic Friction Composites
AUTHORS:
Bharath Basavaraj Pattanashetty, Suresha Bheemappa, Hemanth Rajashekaraiah, Somashekar Hirehally Mahadevappa
KEYWORDS:
Friction Composites, Nanofillers, Abrasion, Design of Experiments, Scanning Electron Microscope
JOURNAL NAME:
Materials Sciences and Applications,
Vol.10 No.1,
January
16,
2019
ABSTRACT: The present study focuses on the
development of polymeric friction composites with short carbon fiber, micron
and nano-sized fillers, additives with varying weight% in phenol formaldehyde
(PF) matrix using hot compression moulding process. The composites prepared
with fillers viz. Molybdenum disulfide or Molykote (MK) and multi walled carbon
nanotubes (MWCNTs) in carbon fiber reinforced PF matrix is designated as Set-I
composites. Inclusion of graphite and nano-clay in carbon fiber reinforced PF
matrix is designated as Set-II composites. The prepared composites are tested
in Dry sand rubber wheel abrasion wear test rig, following ASTM standards for
evaluating the abrasive wear behaviour. From the routine experiments, it was
observed that the presence of combined micro and nanofillers i.e. 11.5 wt% MK + 0.5 wt% MWCNTs of
Set-I, has shown superior abrasion resistance among the study group. The test
results of the Set-I and Set-II composites are analyzed using Taguchi
experimental design followed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) to understand the
contributions of wear control factors affecting the abrasive wear
characteristics. Further, worn surface of selected samples is analyzed using scanning
electron micrographs.