Effect of Fiber Orientation on the Tribological Performance of Abaca-Reinforced Epoxy Composite under Dry Contact Conditions

Abstract

This paper presents tribological research of an abaca fiber-reinforced epoxy composite material, analyzing fiber orientation and its effect on the tribological performances of the composite. The extremely low viscosity epoxy resin reinforced with NaOH-treated long abaca fibers is investigated under the different operating conditions. The unidirectional abaca fibers reinforced the epoxy resin and formed composite specimens with fibers in three directions, parallel (P-O), anti-parallel (AP-O) and normal (N-O), while keeping the sliding direction. The specimens were fabricated using fiber volume fractions of 10 vol%, 20 vol% and 30 vol% using the vacuum infusion technique. The block-on-disc (BOD) apparatus has been used to exhibit the tribological tests. Normal loads of 35 N and 45 N have been used for testing purposes. The experimental results indicated that the presence of abaca fiber significantly improved the wear characteristics of the matrix. An increased coefficient of friction was observed in samples with anti-parallel-oriented fibers at an applied load of 35 N. The conducted research shows that the use of abaca fibers as fillers could improve the tribological characteristics of the epoxy resin-based composite material.