Sliding wear performance of dry and oil impregnated black-fiber palm wood

Abstract

The sliding wear of black-fiber palm wood was first investigated under dry conditions against smooth steel. Tests were carried out in two different configurations, i.e. pin on disc and ring on plate. In both cases, the transverse, in plane fiber orientation resulted in the highest values of friction coefficient and specific wear rate. The normal and parallel fiber orientations showed a better performance. In all cases, the coefficient of friction was rather high (average range between 0.4 to 0.7) whereas the specific wear rates varied between 10-6 to 10-5 (mm3/Nm). The latter are comparable to those of short fiber reinforced thermoplastics. A following impregnation in various oils reduced the wear rates, and the friction coefficients went down to values between 0.1 and 0.3. The different efficiency of the various oils was discussed.

Keywords

• Sliding
• Wear
• Friction
• Fiber orientation
• Black-fiber palm wood
• Natural composite
• Oil impregnation
• Viscosity