Wear resistance of glass and carbon fibers/epoxy composites

Abstract

Fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials are slowly but substantially replacing traditional metallic materials due to their high specific strength and improved wear resistance. However, composites are still more expensive than traditional materials. In this work, composites fabricated from carbon fiber and glass have been compared for hardness and wear resistance. The FRP composites were prepared using hand lay-up technique. The results revealed that the hardness of pure epoxy composite was 83HV. However, it was 415.2 HV and 319.8HV for carbon and glass fiber composite respectively. The applied load has significant effect on the wear rate of both composites and it increase with the applied load. Furthermore, it was observed that carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites are more resistant to wear than glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites.