WEAR AND FRICTION OF A UNIDIRECTIONAL CARBON-FIBER GLASS MATRIX COMPOSITE AGAINST VARIOUS COUNTERPARTS

A fundamental study was made of the dry sliding and abrasive wear behavior of a unidirectional carbon-fiber-reinforced glass matrix composite at ambient temperature. The wear rates and friction coefficients against different metals and SiC papers were experimentally determined and the resulting wear mechanisms were microscopically observed. Three principal sliding directions relative to the dominant fiber orientation in the composite were selected. When sliding took place against smooth hard metals, the highest wear resistance and the lowest friction coefficient were observed in the antiparallel direction. For both the composite and the counterparts, the wear rates decreased as the hardness of the counterpart material increased. Two types of colored wear debris were observed and these played an important role in the wear mechanisms during sliding. The effects of sliding direction and grain size of the SiC paper on the abrasive wear characteristics of the carbon fiber-glass composite were also studied. The type of contact configuration affects the wear rates, especially in the parallel direction. In contrast to smooth metal, the wear rate of the composite in the antiparallel direction here was clearly higher than those in the other two directions. It was found that the dominant wear mechanism was in-plane bending of the fibers, which caused fiber fracture and cracking.