Applied Composite Materials (2005) 12: 369383 DOI: 10.

1007/s10443-005-5824-6

Springer 2005

Effect of Short Fibre Reinforcement on the Friction and Wear Behaviour of Nylon 66
G. SRINATH and R. GNANAMOORTHY
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, India. e-mail: gmoorthy@iitm.ac.in (Received 18 August 2004; accepted 12 April 2005) Abstract. Use of thermoplastic composite material for load bearing components is increasing due to economical processing of complicated shapes in large quantities. Addition of bre improves the strength and modulus of composites. Although the tribo-behaviour of thermoplastic composites were investigated, the friction and wear mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Friction and wear behaviour of injection unlled Nylon 66, glass bre reinforced Nylon 66 and carbon bre reinforced Nylon 66 is investigated under dry sliding conditions. Tests were conducted at different normal loads and sliding velocities at room temperature. Coefcient of friction, wear loss and heat generation during the wear tests were quantied. Presence of bre affects coefcient of friction and wear resistance of Nylon 66 matrix composites. The formation and stability of the transfer lms affects the wear resistance. The rise in temperature during sliding was also calculated and also measured. The contact temperature rise is inuenced by the composition which in turn inuences the bre adhesion and thereby the wear resistance. Glass bre reinforced Nylon exhibited the lowest wear rate among the materials investigated. Both adhesive and abrasive wear mechanisms were observed in polymer matrix composites. Key words: friction, wear, polymer matrix, glass and carbon bre.

1. Introduction Thermoplastics have replaced metals in many light duty load bearing applications because of their lightweight, economic fabrication and good chemical resistance. Polymers exhibit low coefcient of friction compared with metals due to their low interfacial adhesion energy [1]. The mechanical strength, modulus and wear resistance of polymers largely determine the suitability of these materials for applications like gears, bearings, cams, etc., [2]. Furthermore polymer gears and bearings can accommodate shock loading, shaft misalignment and bending better than metal parts. Polyamides and polyacetals are widely used thermoplastic polymers for structural applications. Friction and wear behaviour of unreinforced Nylon is widely reported in literature [15]. The friction behaviour of commercial polymer based bearing materials were studied using by sliding against steel surface [2]. It was reported that the friction and wear behaviour of Nylon was fairly
Corresponding author.

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satisfactory under dry sliding conditions and lubrication was found necessary at higher speeds. Watanabe and Yamaguchi [3] investigated the effect of temperature, load and sliding speed on the coefcient of friction and wear behaviour of Nylon. Viscoelastic property of Nylon inuences the tribological behaviour. Friction and wear experiments were conducted on 18 polymers when slid against steel in air and water by Mens and de Gee [4]. It was reported that addition of PTFE with the base polymers lowers the wear rate when tested under unlubricated dry conditions [5]. The roughness and the lay orientation inuence the wear rate of polymers. Polymers are reinforced with bres to improve the strength and stiffness of the matrix. Glass and carbon bres are the most widely used reinforcing agents in Nylon matrix. These bres are usually sized to permit good bonding with the matrix, producing a material of high exural and tensile strength. Addition of reinforcements in Nylon not only affects the mechanical but also the tribological properties [6, 7]. Tribological properties of glass fabric reinforced polyamide composites lled with CuO and PTFE were reported by Bahadur and Polineni [6]. With the glass fabric reinforcement the steady state wear rate of Nylon was found reduced. The mechanical and tribological properties of polyamide 6 with HDPE polyblends with and without compatibilizer were also reported [7]. The coefcient of friction of polyblends was less than that of the base polymers. Addition of reinforcements will affect the friction and wear properties of Nylon and the effect needs to be clearly understood for better utilization and widening application of Nylon based polymer composites. This paper focuses on the tribo-behaviour of unlled Nylon 66, carbon and glass bre reinforced Nylon 66 composites. The wear mechanisms of these polymers are discussed. 2. Test Materials and Experimental Procedure Nylon 66, Nylon 66 + 20% glass bre (by weight if not mentioned otherwise) and Nylon 66 + 20% carbon bre were used in the current study. The weight fraction, volume fraction, bre diameter and length are estimated according to ASTM D3171 and are shown in Table I [8]. The mechanical properties of the test materials are shown in Table II [9]. The raw materials, in the form of granules were
Table I. Details of reinforcements. Glass bre reinforced Nylon Fibre fraction (by weight) Fibre fraction (by volume) Fibre diameter Average bre length 20% 10.1% 10 m 260 m (13%) Carbon bre reinforced Nylon 20% 12.5% 10 m 260 m (16%)

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Table II. Mechanical properties of test materials [9]. Nylon 66 Unlled Tensile modulus (MPa) Tensile strength (MPa) Compressive strength (MPa) Specic gravity Thermal conductivity (W/m-K) 2760 76 34 1.14 0.24 Nylon 66 + 20% GF 6890 131 117 1.27 0.42 Nylon 66 + 20% CF 15500 207 138 1.22 0.72

preheated at 353 K for 4 h to remove the moisture content. After preheating, the granules were injection moulded into cylindrical specimens of diameter 8 mm and length 20 mm using an injection-moulding machine. The tribological properties of Nylon matrix composites were studied using a pin-on-disc tribometer developed according to ASTM G99 [10]. The counterface disc was made of stainless steel (AISI 314). The centre line average surface roughness (Ra ) of the ground disc was 0.6 m. The friction force was measured using a force transducer xed on the loading lever arm and the temperature of the disc was measured using a noncontact type infrared sensor. Friction force and disc temperature were measured and data were stored using a personal computer based data acquisition system. Friction and wear tests were conducted at different normal loads varying from 20 to 40 N. Tests were performed at three different sliding velocities 0.4, 0.6 and 1 m/s. All tests were conducted under unlubricated dry laboratory conditions (32 C 3 C, RH 57% 6%). The pins were polished using a ne grade SiC emery paper and cleaned and dried before testing. The initial mass of pins was measured using an electronic balance of 0.1 mg accuracy and the dimensions of pins were measured using a digital micrometer of accuracy 1 m. The surface roughness (Ra ) of the pin and disc was measured using a perthometer. Tests were run up to a sliding distance of 6000 m. After the test, the pin was cleaned and the specimen mass, length and surface roughness were measured. Three tests were conducted under each test condition and the average values of measured friction force, disc temperature and mass loss were used for further analysis. The specic wear rate (K0 ) was calculated using Equation (1) K0 = (m1 m2 ) 1000 , N S (1)

where m1 and m2 are mass (g) of specimen before and after testing, is the specic gravity of the specimen, N is the normal load (N) and S is the sliding distance (m). The worn-out surfaces were observed using optical and scanning electron microscope.

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3.1. EFFECT OF FIBRE REINFORCEMENT ON COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION The measured coefcient of friction vs sliding distance is shown in Figure 1 for the unlled, glass lled and carbon lled Nylon when slid against stainless steel under dry sliding conditions at the applied normal load of 30 N and at a sliding velocity of 0.4 m/s. As the real area of contact and shear strength of polymer substrate changes during sliding, the coefcient of friction initially increases and then stabilizes after run-in period. The run-in distance is approximately the same for all the test materials investigated. Similar trends were observed at other normal loads and velocities investigated during the current studies. Cyclic uctuations in coefcient of friction were observed during the test owing to the changing conditions at the interface due to periodic ploughing and interference action of the debris. The coefcient of friction of unlled Nylon measured during the current investigation is in the range of 0.30.4 and is in agreement with the published data [2, 6, 7, 11]. The bre reinforced materials exhibited lower coefcient of friction compared with the unlled material at all normal loads and velocities investigated. Reinforcing Nylon with about 20% carbon or glass bres reduces the coefcient of friction by about 28%. Figure 2 shows the sliding surface of carbon bre reinforced Nylon pin. The carbon bres are found exposed over the surface of pin. The applied normal load is shared by both the bre and matrix. The load sharing between the matrix and bres is schematically explained in Figure 3. At the junction of pin and disc, both the bre and the matrix are exposed to the counterface material. Hence it can be deduced that two types of interfaces prevail, one between the matrix and the counterface and other between the bre and the counterface. The two different contact chemistries prevail at the junction, which behave differently with the applied normal load and inuence the coefcient of friction.

Figure 1. Variation of coefcient of friction with sliding distance during the tests at a normal load of 30 N and sliding velocity of 0.4 m/s.

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Figure 2. Sliding surface of carbon bre reinforced Nylon before testing.

Figure 3. Schematic representation of load sharing between bres and the matrix.

3.2. EFFECT OF P V ON COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION The product of contact pressure (P ) and sliding velocity (V ) termed as P V factor is an important parameter in bearing materials. The effect of P V on the steady state coefcient of friction is shown in Figure 4. The coefcient of friction increases with P V for all the materials investigated. It is pronounced that the increase in contact pressure increases the real area of contact. Due to the viscoelastic behaviour of Nylon, the tangential or frictional forces between the asperities can be related to the sliding velocity [12, 13]. Hence the coefcient of friction increases with increase

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Figure 4. Effect of P V on coefcient of friction of Nylon matrix composites.

in P V . A similar trend was reported by other investigators [4, 14]. Variation in the slope and values presented in the gure can be attributed to the different test congurations and test conditions followed. Mens and de Gee [4] used a block on ring geometry while Holmberg and Wickstrom [14] used a pin-on-cylinder geometry. 3.3. EVALUATION OF TEMPERATURE RISE OF THE DISC FROM FRICTION - TIME
CURVE

Continuous sliding of surfaces leads to the generation of heat at the contact point due to friction and leads to a rise in temperatures of both pin and disc. The net heat build up in polymeric materials affects the strength and modulus and inuences the performance of the product in service. In general, a decrease in the strength and modulus with increase in temperature occurs in many engineering materials. The temperature rise accelerates the wear process of polymers [15]. The increase in temperature of disc can be evaluated from the frictional energy dissipation. The total heat energy generated per unit area (q) in a pin-on-disc tribometer [16] due to friction is given by q= 4 P dR 2 N , As (2)

where is the coefcient of friction, P is the normal load, d is the lateral distance between centres of the pin and the disc, R is the radius of the pin, N is the rotation speed and the As is the contact area. Assuming no heat loss occurs in the pin, as its thermal conductivity is much lower than the mating disc material and neglecting the heat dissipation to the atmosphere from the pin, the total heat generated causes a rise in the temperature of disc. Therefore T q = Cp , (3) t

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Table III. Measured area under friction-time curve during the test at normal load of 40 N and sliding velocity of 0.4 m/s. Material Unlled Nylon 66 Nylon + 20% GF Nylon + 20% CF Area under frictiontime curve (sec) 5153 3377 3090

where is the density and Cp is the heat capacity of the stainless steel counterface. Equating Equations (2) and (3) and substituting area of contact As (= R 2 ), the following expressions are obtained: Cp i.e., T = 4P dN t. Cp T , is given by (6) 4P dN Cp (5) 4 P dR 2 N T = , t R2 (4)

Integrating Equation (5), the temperature rise in the disc, T = t.

t is the area under friction-time curve and can be easily calculated from the friction-time plots using the commercially available software. Equation (6) shows that the temperature rise is directly proportional to the area under friction-time curve. The area under the friction-time curve of unlled Nylon, glass and carbon bre reinforced Nylon are measured and the data are given in Table III. The rise in temperature calculated from Equation (6) at the applied normal load of 40 N and the sliding velocity of 0.4 m/s are compared with the measured temperature values of the disc during the identical test conditions in Figure 5. For unreinforced Nylon the calculated and observed values of temperatures are more or less same. For the reinforced Nylons there is an appreciable difference between the observed and calculated values, which is due to the higher thermal conductivity of reinforced Nylons. Equation (6) does not take into consideration the heat-conducted through the specimen. The rise in temperature of the discs during sliding is shown in Figure 6 for the tests conducted at a normal load of 40 N and sliding velocity of 0.4 m/s. The temperature rise is steep during the initial stages of testing for all the materials investigated. There is a signicant difference in the heat generation during sliding among the materials investigated. As the coefcient of friction for the unlled Nylon is high, the friction energy dissipation

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Figure 5. Calculated and measured temperature rise of the disc during the test at normal load of 40 N and sliding velocity of 0.4 m/s.

Figure 6. Temperature increase of the disc during sliding at normal load 40 N and sliding velocity 0.4 m/s.

and hence the temperature rise is also high. Low coefcient of friction and good thermal conductivity of bre reinforced Nylon causes only a marginal increase in the temperature of disc. Although the coefcient of friction of glass and carbon bre reinforced materials is more or less same, the high thermal conductivity of the carbon reinforced material compared with the glass reinforced material leads to low heat generation in carbon reinforced Nylon. 3.4. EFFECT OF FIBRE REINFORCEMENT ON WEAR The specic wear rates were calculated from the material wear loss measurements carried out. Figure 7 shows the effect of bre reinforcement on the specic wear rate of Nylon base polymer composites. Unlled Nylon has the least wear resistance while the glass bre reinforced Nylon has the lowest specic wear rate at all the conditions investigated. It can be inferred that reinforcing Nylon with glass

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Figure 7. Effect of P V on specic wear rate of the test materials.

and carbon bres increases the wear resistance of Nylon. The reduction in specic wear rate is about 45% in carbon bre reinforced Nylon and about 74% in glass bre reinforced Nylon. As P V increases, the specic wear rate of unlled Nylon increases while for carbon and glass bre reinforced Nylon, the specic wear rate decreases with increase in P V . As the specic wear rate of unlled Nylon is proportional to normal load and velocity, the wear rate of unlled Nylon increases with P V . Due to polishing action of the counterface, the specic wear rate of glass and carbon bre reinforced Nylon decreases with increasing P V . Polishing of the counterface causes a reduction in the abrasive effect of steel on polymer and reduces the wear rate. This is discussed in detail in later section.

3.5. WEAR MECHANISM When polymers slide against metal counterfaces, transfer lms are formed and the wear behaviour of a polymer in dry sliding condition is strongly inuenced by its ability to form a transfer lm on the counterface [7]. The transfer lms provide a shielding of the soft polymer surface from the hard metal asperities [17]. Figures 8(a) and 8(b) show the continuous transfer layer formed on the steel counterface by glass and carbon bre reinforced Nylon pins after the tests. However no distinct visible transfer lms on the counterface when the unlled Nylon material slides against the counterface were observed after four hours of sliding (Figure 8(c)). Generally during sliding neat Nylon also forms a transfer lm. In the present case, weak transfer lm formed on the counterface by unlled Nylon is removed due to continuous sliding (mechanical action) and high heat generation during sliding (Figure 5). Sinha [15] also reports that the transfer lm formed by neat Nylon during dry sliding is weak and is easily removed by high interfacial temperatures and dynamic actions during sliding.

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(a)

(b)

(c)
Figure 8. Transfer layer formed on the counterface during testing at 30 N and 0.4 m/s of (a) glass bre reinforced, (b) carbon bre reinforced and (c) unlled Nylon (arrow indicates the transfer layer).

Adhesion that occurs in the contact zone and abrasion by the asperities present on metal disc are dominant wear mechanisms in the Nylon matrix composites when slide against steel surfaces. The chemical and mechanical properties at the interface govern the wear resistance of the material [18]. Figure 9(a) shows the adhesive marks observed in the unlled Nylon pin. Both abrasive tracks and adhesive marks were observed in the bre reinforced materials (Figures 9(b) and 9(c)). At high applied normal loads abrasive effects are stronger compared with the adhesion effects [19]. The worn surface shown in Figure 10 clearly indicates the severe abrasive action in the carbon reinforced Nylon. Similar results were observed in glass bre reinforced and unlled Nylon during current investigations. Nylon with glass bre reinforcement exhibits a low specic wear rate compared with the carbon reinforced Nylon at all the conditions investigated. Similar results were reported recently by Unal et al. [20]. Better adhesion of the bre with the matrix may be one of causes for the improved wear resistance. The integrity be-

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(a)

(b)

(c)
Figure 9. Scanning electron micrographs of the pin surfaces after testing under 30 N and 0.4 m/s of (a) unlled, (b) glass bre reinforced and (c) carbon bre reinforced Nylon.

Figure 10. Abrasive wear track observed on carbon lled Nylon pin (load = 64 N, sliding velocity = 0.4 m/s; arrow indicates the abrasive wear track).

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(a)

(b)

Figure 11. Fibre breakage during sliding of (a) carbon bre reinforced Nylon and (b) glass bre reinforced Nylon (arrows indicate the sliding direction).

tween the bre and matrix is not lost due to sliding indicating the better bonding of matrix and glass bre (Figure 9(b)). In Figure 9(c) which shows the worn surface of carbon bre reinforced Nylon, the bres are not clearly visible and the integrity between the bre and the matrix is lost indicating the poor adhesion between matrix and bres. Fibre breakages are also observed during sliding of short bre reinforced Nylons. Figure 11 shows the worn surface of carbon and glass bre reinforced Nylon. The bre breakage is clearly visible in carbon reinforced Nylon (Figure 11(a)). It is to be noted that the bre breakage has occurred in the direction of sliding and severe damage has been observed when the bres are oriented perpendicular to the sliding direction. For glass bre reinforced Nylon, the bre breakage is not severe as in carbon bre reinforced Nylon indicating stronger adhesion between the matrix and the short glass bre. The breaking of bre tends to produce hard wear debris and causes smoothening of the counterface. This was evident from the changes in the surface roughness (Ra ) of the counterface from 0.54 m to 0.47 m for carbon bre reinforced Nylon and from 0.53 m to 0.38 m for glass reinforced Nylon under normal load of 30 N and sliding velocity of 0.4 m/s. This may also contribute to a reduction in wear of glass bre reinforced Nylon. 3.6. EFFECT OF FIBRE REINFORCEMENT ON FINAL SURFACE ROUGHNESS OF
THE PINS

Surface smoothening occurs at low applied normal loads in contacting surfaces and inuences the wear processes. Figure 12 shows the changes in surface roughness of unlled, glass bre and carbon reinforced Nylon pins after sliding for 6000 m. The surface roughness of unlled Nylon signicantly reduces after the test. The reduction in surface roughness is as much as 90%. Irrespective of the applied normal load the nal surface roughness of pins are nearly same. Carbon or glass

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Figure 12. Effect of carbon and glass bre reinforcement on the nal surface roughness of the specimen.

bre reinforced Nylon also shows a similar effect but the nal surface roughness depends upon the load. The surface nish of bre reinforced Nylon increases with increase in the normal load. The presence of bres and the breakage of the bres hinders the reduction of surface roughness of bre reinforced Nylon.

4. Conclusions From the triboligical study on Nylon 66 and lled Nylon 66, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) Reinforcing Nylon 66 with carbon or glass bre reduces the coefcient of friction, temperature rise and specic wear rate. (2) Superior thermal properties of bre reinforced Nylons causes a low temperature rise of the disc during sliding. (3) Increase in P V increases the coefcient of friction for unlled, glass and carbon bre reinforced Nylon. Increase in P V increases the specic wear rate of unlled Nylon whereas increase in P V decreases the specic wear rate of carbon or glass reinforced Nylon due to the polishing effect of bres on the counterface. (4) Fibre reinforcement in Nylon reduces the specic wear rate considerably due to formation of transfer lm on the counterface. Glass bre reinforced Nylon exhibited a least wear rate due to better adhesion of matrix and the bres. Both abrasive wear and adhesive wear mechanisms were evident at the contact surfaces. (5) Fibre breakages on the worn surfaces of glass and carbon bre reinforced Nylon are also observed. The broken bres act as wear debris and cause smoothening of the counterface.

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(6) The nal surface roughness of unlled Nylon is independent of the normal load whereas for both carbon and glass reinforced Nylon the nal surface roughness decreases with normal load.

Acknowledgements Authors sincerely thank the nancial support provided the Department of Science of Technology, India. Authors also thank Mr. S. Senthilvelan of Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras for his help in getting the details of the reinforcements. References
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