Wear 296 (2012) 491496

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Wear
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wear

Dry sliding wear characteristics of glassepoxy composite lled

with silicon carbide and graphite particles
S. Basavarajappa n, S. Ellangovan
Department of Studies in Mechanical Engineering, University B.D.T. College of Engineering, Davangere 577004, India

a r t i c l e i n f o

abstract

Article history:
Received 19 November 2011
Received in revised form
30 July 2012
Accepted 2 August 2012
Available online 10 August 2012

The dry sliding wear characteristics of a glassepoxy (GE) composite, lled with both silicon carbide
(SiCp) and graphite (Gr), were studied using a pin-on-disc test apparatus. The specic wear rate was
determined as a function of sliding velocity, applied load and sliding distance. The laminates were
fabricated by the hand lay-up technique. The volume percentage of ller materials in the composite
was varied, silicon carbide was varied from 5 to 10% whereas graphite was kept constant at 5%. The
excellent wear resistance was obtained with glassepoxy containing llers. The transfer lm formed on
the counter surface was conrmed to be effective in improving the wear characteristics of lled GE
composites. The inuence of applied load is more on specic wear rate compared to the other two wear
parameters. The worn surfaces of composites were examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
to investigate the probable wear mechanisms. It was found that in the early stage of wear, the llers
contribution is signicant. The process of transfer lm, debris formation and ber breakage accounts for
the wear at much later stages.
& 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Sliding wear
Polymer matrix composites
Wear testing
Surface topography

1. Introduction
Over the past decades, polymer matrix composites are made
and most widely used for structural applications in the aerospace,
automotive, and chemical industries, and in providing alternatives to traditional metallic materials [1]. The features that make
composites so promising as industrial and engineering materials
are their high specic strength, high specic stiffness and opportunities to tailor material properties through the control of ber
and matrix compositions. Composites are developed for superior
mechanical strength and this objective often conicts with the
simultaneous achievement of superior wear resistance [2]. As a
result of this, these materials are found to be used in mechanical
components such as gears, cams, wheels, impellers, brakes,
clutches, conveyors, transmission belts, bushes and bearings. In
most of these services the components are subjected to tribological loading conditions, where the likelihood of wear failure
becomes greater. Of the large number of matrices available
commercially, only a small portion is in signicant use for these
kinds of applications.
The use of llers in the matrix, gives rise to many combinations that provide increasing load withstanding capability,
reduced coefcient of friction, improved wear resistance and

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: 91 8192 2224567.

E-mail address: basavarajappas@yahoo.com (S. Basavarajappa).

0043-1648/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2012.08.001

improved thermal properties. In addition to this, llers in polymeric composite reduce the cost due to the less consumption of
matrix material. Fibers are the principal constituents in a ber
reinforced composite materials. They occupy the largest volume
fraction and share the major portion of the load acting on a
composite [3]. In case of dry sliding it is effective in reducing the
wear rate, this reduction in wear is due to the load carrying
capacity of the bers, their higher creep resistance and thermal
conductivity. But the higher load makes it more sensitive to ber
breaking, pulverizing of the bers and transfer [4]. Generally, the
wear behavior of polymer matrix composites is different from
that of conventional metallic materials. The material removal
from the polymer matrix composites in contact with a counter
surface is characterized by several mechanisms. The primary one
is adhesive wear, wherein ne particles of polymer gets removed
from the surface, and also bermatrix debonding and ber
breaking. On the other hand, the presence of either the fused
polymer or the grooves at the interface is interpreted to indicate
that the materials are wearing out by abrasion instead of
adhesion [5].
The question of why bers and llers usually improve the
wear resistance of a polymer matrix has been the subject of
intense study in recent years [69]. Zhang et al. [10] studied
dry sliding friction and wear behavior of PEEK and PEEK/SiCcomposite coatings and concluded that the inuences of SiC llers
in the composite effectively reduce the plough and the adhesion
between the two relative sliding parts. Chauhan et al. [11]

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S. Basavarajappa, S. Ellangovan / Wear 296 (2012) 491496

reported a study on the effect of SiCp lled glass bervinyl ester

composites on dry sliding wear and water lubricated conditions.
Pure vinyl ester material has higher specic wear rate because of
the lower mechanical properties and reinforcement of glass ber
and SiC ller improves the wear resistance both under dry and
water lubricated conditions. Basavarajappa et al. [12] studied the
effect of graphite llers in glassepoxy composites under dry
sliding conditions. They reported that addition of graphite in
glassepoxy composite leads to lower wear volume loss. This is
due to a thin coherent and uniform lm that was transferred on
the disc and the interphase also contained lubricant particles,
thereby reducing the severity of the wear. Hyung Cho et al. [13]
investigated tribological properties of solid lubricants (graphite,
Sb2S3, MoS2) for automotive brake friction materials wherein it is
reported that the friction stability, fade resistance, anti-fade, and
wear of gray iron disks and friction materials were affected by the
relative amounts of solid lubricants in the friction materials.
Shyam [14] found that wear depends upon the cohesion of the
transfer lm, adhesion of the transfer lm to the counterface and
the protection of rubbing polymer surface from metal asperities
by transfer lm.
Hashmi et al. [15] demonstrated graphite modied cotton ber
reinforced polyester composites under sliding wear conditions.
They stated that signicant reduction in the contact-surfacetemperature was observed on addition of graphite in cotton
polyester composites. Bahadur and Polineni [16] investigated the
glass fabric-reinforced polyamide composites lled with CuO and
PTFE, and reported that 11.3 vol% glass fabric25 vol% CuO
10 vol% PTFE composite showed the lowest steady state wear
rate. It was 6075% lower than the wear rate that could be
obtained by using glass fabric or CuO reinforcement alone or in
combination. Suresha et al. [17] described the role of SiC and Gr
on friction and slide wear characteristics in glassepoxy composites by adding them separately. They stated that the inuence of
these inorganic llers has a signicant role in reducing friction
and exhibited better wear resistance properties under dry sliding
conditions.
In view of above an attempt is made in this present investigation to combine the benets of two inorganic llers SiCp and Gr
into the GE composite, to enhance the wear resistance. The dry
sliding wear behavior of GE composites was characterized by
observing the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. This
approach was adopted to elucidate the mechanism of wear in the
composites.

Table 1
Details of composites prepared.
Specimen
code

A
B
C

Matrix
volume (%)

50
40
35

Reinforcement
volume (%)

50
50
50

Fillers volume (%)

SiCp

Gr

5
10

5
5

to yield wear test specimen of size 6 mm  6 mm  3 mm.

Dry sliding wear behavior tests were performed on 6 mm  6 mm
face.
2.2. Test details
A pin-on-disc wear test apparatus was used for the dry sliding
wear experiments (as per ASTM G-99 standard). The disc used
was an alloy steel with 165 mm diameter and 8 mm thick,
hardness of 62 HRc and with a surface roughness of 1.2 mm. The
test was conducted on a track of 130 mm diameter for a specied
test duration, applied load and sliding velocity. The surface of the
specimen was perpendicular to the contact surface. Prior to
testing, the specimen pin was rubbed over a 600-grade SiC paper
to ensure proper contact between the specimen surface and the
disc counter surface during sliding. The surfaces of both the
specimen and the disc were cleaned with a soft paper soaked in
acetone before the test. The initial and nal weights of the
specimen were measured by using an electronic digital balance
with an accuracy of 0.0001 g. The difference between the initial
and nal weights is the measure of weight loss. The weight loss
was then converted into wear volume using the measured density
data. The specic wear rate (Ws) parameter provides a more
comprehensive measure of the wear loss characteristics of the
materials. The specic wear rate was calculated from
W s DV=Ld mm3 =Nm

1
3

where DV is the volume loss in mm , L is the applied load in

Newton and d is the sliding distance in meters. SEM observations
were carried out; the features of interest regions were recorded.
The specimen being non-conducting, it was sputter coated with a
layer of gold before SEM examination.

3. Results and discussion

2. Experimental details
2.1. Specimen details
The matrix material used was a medium viscosity epoxy resin
(LAPOX L-12) and a room temperature curing polyamine hardener
(K-6). This matrix was chosen since it provides good adhesive
properties owing to the cross-linking chain between the resin
polymer and the hardener. Hence, the shrinkage after curing is
usually lower. The reinforcement material employed was bidirectional perpendicular yarns of 7-mil E-glass ber. SiCp (15 mm) and
Gr (15 mm) powders were selected as the ller materials on the
basis of their demonstrated ability to withstand high temperatures, and to form transfer lm during sliding and low thermal
expansion. The composites were prepared in the form of blocks
(250 mm  250 mm  3 mm) by the hand lay-up technique. The
llers SiCp and Gr are mixed with known amount of epoxy resin.
The detail composition of the composite is given in Table 1. The
laminate was cured at room temperature for a period of about
24 h. The cured laminates are cut using a diamond tipped cutter

When SiCp and graphite llers are embedded in the GE

composite, the wear trend is as shown in Figs. 13. The specic
wear rate of GE composite has been found to be affected by the
sliding speed. This is true in both lled and unlled GE
composites. In both the cases a general trend has been found
for the effect of sliding speed as show in Fig. 1.
The effect of sliding speed on wear of polymer matrix composites has been investigated quite extensively. The specic wear
rate increased as the sliding speed increased. Plowing by the wear
debris and the asperities on the counter surface is the major
activity on the surface. At high speed the interface temperature
increases because of the poor conductivity of the polymer
composite. The high temperature can give rise to a molten layer
at the interface and it can affect the bermatrix bonding on the
subsurface. It can also promote degradation wear and crack
propagation on the subsurface. So, the specic wear rate increases
exponentially at higher speeds [18]. The higher thermal conductivity of the llers is one of the reasons why lled GE composites
have superior wear resistance to that of unlled GE composite.

S. Basavarajappa, S. Ellangovan / Wear 296 (2012) 491496

14

Ws X10-6 mm3/Nm

12
10
8
6

0
2.72

4.08

5.44
6.8
Sliding Velocity in m/s

8.16

9.52

Fig. 1. Variation of specic wear rate against sliding velocity at constant applied
load of 60 N and at a sliding distance of 3000 m.

25
A
Ws X10-6 mm3/Nm

20

B
C

15
10
5
0
20

40

60
80
Applied Load in N

100

120

Fig. 2. Variation of specic wear rate against applied load at constant sliding
velocity of 5.44 m/s and at a sliding distance of 3000 m.

12

Ws X10-6 mm3/Nm

10
8
6
A

B
2
0
1000

2000

4000
3000
Sliding Distance in m

5000

6000

Fig. 3. Variation of specic wear rate against sliding distance at constant sliding
velocity of 5.44 m/s and at an applied load of 60 N.

Variations of specic wear rate with sliding velocity 5.44 m/s

and sliding distance 3000 m under various loads are shown in
Fig. 2. With reference to the gure, it is noticed that the specic
wear rate of the composites is seen to be high at the applied load
of 20 N. On increasing the applied load to 40 N the specic
wear rate drops down considerably, indicating a change in wear
process.
The specic wear rate appears to be minimum at 60 N and
then rises again with increasing applied load. This is because,

493

during the initial run in period when epoxy comes in contact with
the counter surface, severe adhesive wear occurs and the specic
wear rate increases. Further the specic wear rate is controlled by
glass ber reinforcement. The subsequent escape of exposed glass
ber debris expelled within the contact zone is likely to exacerbate wear still further by three-body abrasion. This type of wear
behavior has been explained by Rajesh et al. [19]. Basavarajappa
et al. [20] studying dry sliding wear behavior of aluminum metal
matrix composites reinforced with SiC and Gr particles using
Taguchi techniques, found that sliding distance is the wear factor
that has the highest physical as well as statistical inuence on the
wear of the composites.
In contrast, in the dry sliding wear behavior of GE composite
lled with SiCp and graphite particles, sliding distance has less
effect on the wear as shown in Fig. 3. From the gure it can be
observed that the specic wear rate exhibits an initial steep drop
and remains practically insensitive to sliding distance thereafter.
High specic wear rate was noticed for unlled GE composite
compared to lled GE composites. The formation of air bubbles
and voids is practically unavoidable in unlled GE composite,
and these voids affect the matrixber interfacial zone. In this
zone a viscous matrix ow appears to occur during sliding,
probably because of matrix softening. The synergistic effect of
SiCp ller and solid lubricant Gr in GE composite not only
reduces the voids but also increases the wear resistance. During
the sliding, SiCp particles embedded in the matrix are capable of
enhancing the adhesion by forming physical interaction with the
counter surface, resulting in signicant reduction in matrix
wearing.
At higher loads, however additional frictional heat released in
a contact tends to soften the resin; thus the contact surface is
sheared giving rise to loose SiCp particles. Due to this some SiCp
particles are easily removed from the surface layer together with
graphite lm and transferred on to the counter surface to form a
high lubricity in a cumulative fashion. The transfer lm effectively
reduces the extent of frictional heating, leading to less damage to
the matrix, bers and their adhesion. The nature of transferred
lm on the counter surface plays a key role in controlling the
wear performance of a composite. In addition, llers serve to
cushion asperities from shock, subsequent fracture and the
resultant enhanced wear. At the same time llers provide more
protection from glass bers on the counter surface and have
strong inuence on the wear resistance. In the presence of more
volume percentage of SiCp ller, the lack of transfer lm causes
unsatisfactory levels of specic wear rate at higher loads. But
from the published data [21] it appears that the wear rate
increases when SiCp portion exceeds the optimum value. The
wear characteristics of the GE composite appear to depend on
the hard SiCp and graphite fraction depositing a thin transfer lm
on the counter surface.

4. Worn surface morphology

In order to investigate the wear mechanism for lled and
unlled GE composites, the worn surfaces of composite specimens were examined using SEM. Fig. 4 depicts the SEM features of
worn out surface taken out at 60 N applied load for unlled GE
composite. From the gure the poor bermatrix bond strength
(marked A) can be observed, which caused an accelerative breakage of the matrix especially in the interfacial region. As a result, the
surface damage was remarkably increased with serious bers
breakage, and also imprints left by the separating bers (marked
B) are evident from the micrograph. Moreover, the bers were
removed with larger patches and undertook little wear process
[18]. The asperities of the harder surface of the steel disc exerted

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S. Basavarajappa, S. Ellangovan / Wear 296 (2012) 491496

Fig. 4. Worn surface of unlled GE composite at 60 N applied load.

Fig. 6. GE composite lled with 5% SiCp5% Gr at 60 N applied load.

Fig. 5. GE composite lled with 5% SiCp5% Gr at 20 N applied load.

a ploughing action on the surface of the composite. Thus the wear

debris was produced during the sliding process and further
decreased the wear resistance of the composite owing to an abrasive
wear effect.
Contrary to the above, the worn surface of lled GE composites has nearly invisible peeling-off at the same sliding conditions. This indicates that the llers incorporated in the GE
composite effectively act to enhance the bonding strength among
the bers and the matrix. Figs. 510 are micrographs of the worn
surfaces of the lled GE composites in the order of increasing
load, showing that the llers are protruded from the matrix. The
protrusion of llers indicates that the llers take up some portion
of the load during sliding and prevent severe adhesion between
the matrix and the counter surface (Fig. 5). Here the bers are less
distinctly seen due to smearing by resinous material in which
glass bers are arranged.
In the absence of severe adhesion the surface fracture is
signicantly reduced. The matrix surface is covered with small
shallow and irregular patches of the thin dark lm (marked C in
Fig. 6) which are different from the markings on the unlled GE
composite. Here a few abrasion grooves (marked D in Fig. 6) and
a number of ripple markings are exhibited. From Fig. 8, there are

Fig. 7. GE composite lled with 5% SiCp5% Gr at 100 N applied load.

Fig. 8. GE composite lled with 10% SiCp5% Gr at 20 N applied load.

S. Basavarajappa, S. Ellangovan / Wear 296 (2012) 491496

Fig. 9. GE composite lled with 10% SiCp5% Gr at 60 N applied load.

495

By comparing Fig. 10 with Fig. 7, it is possible to highlight the

effect of more SiCp particles in GE composite. Here the epoxy
matrix and glass bers are damaged more severely by crushing
and cutting action of abrasive particles (marked G). The worn
surface shows evidence of poor adhesion of matrix to the bers as
several clean bers appear on the worn surface. In fact, this
topography looks more likely as an abrasive wear case rather than
the adhesive wear. As a result the wear rate of the composites
increases slightly with increasing applied load but never reaches
very high levels.
The synergistic effect of llers hinders the wear of GE composites surface layer. Thus, a smoother worn surface and hence lower
wear rate was observed under dry lubrication as compared with
unlled GE composite. The better wear resistance exhibited by the
lled GE composites depends on factors such as increasing
bonding strength, less voids and formation of transfer lm by ller
materials.

5. Conclusions
The study of the wear behavior of lled and unlled GE
composites at various sliding velocity, applied load and sliding
distance reveals the following.
An increase in sliding velocity increased the specic wear rate.
Applied load has much more predominant effect, whereas sliding
distance has less effect. Inclusion of llers in GE composites leads
to better wear resistance; however higher the percentage of the
SiCp ller along with graphite higher the wear due to deteriorated
abrasive wear performance of the parent material and it is also seen
to depend on the amount and nature of the transfer lm formed on
the steel counter surface. The wear mechanisms involved are well
indicated with SEM micrographs, which reveal multiple microcracking, debris formation, ber thinning, ber breakage, ber pull
outs, peeling of the matrix and bermatrix debonding.

References

Fig. 10. GE composite lled with 10% SiCp5% Gr at 100 N applied load.

some extent cracks, which are parallel and perpendicular to the

sliding direction (marked arrow). Further, these cracks become
more susceptible to propagation on to the surface, giving rise to
loosening of the llers. Furthermore, the worn surface gives rise
to laminate type of debris (marked F in Fig. 9) when applied load
is increased to 60 N. Hence it can be concluded that an increase in
the volume percentage of ller materials leads to less bonding
between the ller and matrix material. To produce a good
bonding and better wear resistance, an optimum level of ller is
required.
In the case of higher loads most of the matrix material has already
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fractures the skin of the bers and separates it from the surface,
whereas the rest remain embedded, still contributing to the wear
resistance of the composite for a certain time.

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