Investigation of the Tribological Properties of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polyamide-1010 Composite

The glass fiber reinforced PA 1010 based composites were prepared with a small injector. The effects of glass fiber content and testing conditions on the friction and wear behaviors of the composites were investigated and compared with the unfilled PA 1010 specimen on a ring on block friction and wear tester. The wear mechanism of the material was examined by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It has been found that the tribological properties of the composite were significantly affected by glass fiber content under the given testing conditions. The optimal reinforcing effect of PA 1010 was reached at a glass fiber content between 25% and 30%. The friction coefficient and wear mass loss of the composite in sliding against AISI 1045 steel are dependent on the friction and wear testing conditions as well. Namely, the friction coefficient decreased with increase of load at the early sliding stage, it then increased with load increasing but increased continuously with velocity rising. The wear mass loss of the composite increased continuously with increase of load and velocity. The main wear mechanism of the composite at a relatively low load is adhesive wear, that at a relatively high load is characterized by destruction of glass fiber.