Wear Behavior of Carbon Nanotube (CNT)Short Natural Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composite

Mohd Ali, Rosli (2013) Wear Behavior of Carbon Nanotube (CNT)Short Natural Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composite. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Tribological performance of natural fiber reinforced polymer composite is found to be improved but there are some consideration that need to be adressed before natural fiber-reinforced polymer composite gain widespread acceptance as compared to synthetic fiber ones. Thus, it is perceived that incorporation of functionalized nanomaterials may help to improve the tribological behavior of the natural fiber reinforced polymer composite. This study aimed to investigate the dry sliding wear behavior of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and short kenaf fiber reinforced epoxy (EP/KNF/CNT) composite as a function of CNT loading. The composition of the composite was made up of a constant 4 wt% of kenaf fiber and varying CNT loading at 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 wt%. To ensure better fiber-matrix interfacial adhesion, the kenaf fiber was treated with 6% sodium hydroxide and carboxyl-functionalized CNT was used. The composite fabricated via vacuum casting technique which exhibited less than 1% of void inclusion. Tribological testing of the composite was conducted at 40N load at two different sliding velocities (1 and 2 m/s) for a distance of 3.75 km. Generally, addition of kenaf fiber reduced the specific wear rates of pristine epoxy and further incorporation of CNT enhanced the wear resistance of the composite. However, it was noted that the specific wear rates at 1 m/s is higher than that of 2 m/s because abrasive wear was observed in the former one while adhesive wear was more profound in the latter. Among all, EP/KF/CNT0.5 composite showed a superior wear resistance behaviour with 90.2% improvement at 1 m/s and 75.4% improvement at 2 m/s sliding velocity as compared to the pristine epoxy. On the other hand, there was erratic change on the coefficient of friction of the composite due to the dimensional instability of the composite in regard to frictional heat generated which was closed to the glass transition temperature of the composite.

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