Tribological Behavior of Nano-TiO2 and Nano-SiO2 Filled Nylon Composites

PA1010-based composites filled with nano-SiO_2 and nano-TiO_2 particles were prepared by extrusion molding. The friction and wear behaviors of the resulting nylon composites sliding against AISI-1045 steel under dry ambient condition were evaluated on an MM-200 friction and wear tester. The tensile strength of the filled nylon composites was determined on an electronic tensile strength meter, and the hardness of the composites was measured on an HRM scale. The worn surface morphologies and microdtructures of the filled nylon composites observed on a scanning electron microscope and transmittance electron microscope, respectively. It was found that the incorporation of the nano particulates contributed to reducing the friction coefficient to some extent and decreasing the wear mass loss considerably. Nano-SiO_2 was superior to nano-TiO_2 in terms of the ability to increase the wear-resistance of the nylon1010 matrix, which was related to the differences in the microstructures of the two kinds of filled nylon composites. The nano-particle filled nylon composites were dominated by mild adhesion and fatigue wear as they slid against the steel counterpart in dry ambient condition. It was suggested to control the mass fraction of the nano-fillers as 10% so as to obtain the optimized wear-resistance of the filled nylon composite.