Study on the friction and wear properties of glass fabric composites filled with nano- and micro-particles under different conditions

The glass fabric composites filled with the particulates of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), micro-sized MoS2, nano-TiO2, and nano-CaCO3, respectively, were prepared by dip-coating of the glass fabric in a phenolic resin containing the particulates to be incorporated and the successive curing. The friction and wear behaviors of the resulting glass fabric composites sliding against AISI-1045 steel in a pin-on-disk configuration at various temperatures were evaluated on a Xuanwu-III high temperature friction and wear tester. The morphologies of the worn surfaces of the filled glass fabric composites and the counterpart steel pins were analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy, and the elemental distribution of F on the worn surface of the counterpart steel was determined by means of energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA). It was found that PTFE and nano-TiO2 particulates as the fillers contributed to significantly improve the friction-reducing and anti-wear properties of the glass fabric composites, but nano-CaCO3 and micro-MoS2 as the fillers were harmful to the friction and wear behavior of the glass fabric composites. The friction and wear properties of the glass fabric composites filled with the particulate fillers were closely dependent on the environmental temperature and the wear rates of the composites at elevated temperature above 200 °C were much larger than that below 150 °C, which was attributed to the degradation and decomposition of the adhesive resin at excessively elevated temperature. The bonding strengths between the interfaces of the glass fabric, the adhesive resin, and the incorporated particulates varied with the types of the particulate fillers, which largely accounted for the differences in the tribological properties of the glass fabric composites filled with different fillers. Moreover, the transferred layers of varied features formed on the counterpart steel pins also partly accounted for the different friction and wear behaviors of the unfilled glass fabric and the composites. In a practical viewpoint, 10% PTFE-filled glass fabric composite could be suitable to tribological applications at moderately elevated temperature.