Effects of some factors on the tribological properties of the short carbon fiber-reinforced copper composite

The authors studied the tribological properties of the short carbon fiber-reinforced copper composite. The influence of the fiber volume friction, the load applied, the sliding speed of the wear tests, the addition of alloying elements Cu and Al on the wear behavior of the composites were investigated. The study indicates that the wear resistance increases as the fiber volume fraction increases. As the load increases, the wear rate increases. It seems that when the load increases to some critical value the composite begins to suffer severe wear. As the carbon fiber fraction increases the friction coefficient decreases. The addition of the aluminum and tin obviously improves the wear behavior of the composite.