Wear Resistance of Fiber-reinforced Nanoparticle Hybrid Mixture

Abstract

Composite materials have come to be associated with contemporary, and they are desired in practically every area of our ordinary routine. Composites have gained popularity due to their properties such as durability, strength, and reduced energy consumption during the production process, and low shipping costs. However, there is still a need to enhance the structure of composite materials by upgrading production techniques towards nanocomposites, which would allow the introduction of composite materials with high strength and stiffness. The current study investigates the reinforcement against wear resistance of a hybrid mixture combining epoxy and phenol formaldehyde using a combination of carbon fibers and alumina nanoparticles. To systematically carry out this investigation, the hardness properties of the synthesized composites besides the influence of different sliding velocities on the wear resistance have been addressed. The results present the prosperity of the synthesized hybrid mixture reinforced by carbon fibers and alumina nanoparticles, which introduces the lowest wear rate (highest wear resistance) compared to the hybrid mixture composite, carbon fibers-reinforced hybrid mixture, and alumina-reinforced hybrid mixture. This has been attributed to the randomly distributed nanoparticles and fibers within the hybrid mixture of epoxy and phenol formaldehyde.