Friction and wear properties of jute/polyester composite systems

Many researchers have recently explored the use of natural fibre composite in tribological application. Efficient use of natural fibre composite through low friction and increased service life can be achieved by adding functional additives. It is well known that fibre treatment aids mechanical strength. However, the role of functional additives in combination with the fibre treatment is less explored. In this background the present research attempts to understand the tribological behaviour of these advanced jute/polyester composites from the viewpoint of MoS2/PTFE additives and NaOH/Ca(OH)2 fibre treatments. The challenge with polyester lies in the formation of uniform protective transfer layer hence the additives were blended at the contact surface. A medium scale linear reciprocating sliding flat on flat test configuration was used for wear testing. In order to test at real application scale wear tests in dry contact condition were performed at 50 mm/s sliding speed and 10 kN normal force, which corresponds to 4 MPa contact pressure. AISI 100Cr6 steel counterface was chosen because of proven tribological performance in combination with polymers. PTFE blended jute fibre composite had the lowest friction coefficient in case of untreated materials but in surface treated materials Ca(OH)2/MoS2 composite had lower friction coefficient than Ca(OH)2/PTFE. Formation of transfer layer was observed for NaOH/---, Ca(OH)2/MoS2 and for NaOH/PTFE counterfaces (all of these materials had long lifetime).

Publication year:2016