Wear properties of nanosilica filled epoxy polymers and FRP composites

Abstract

This paper is aimed to determine the wear properties of nanosilica filled epoxy polymers and FRP composites. Woven fiberglass has been deployed as the reinforcement material. The fibers were mixed with three different percentages of nanosilica-modified epoxy resin, i.e: 5wt%; 13wt%; 25wt%, in order to fabricate the desired samples of FRP composites. The effect of nanosilica on wear properties was evaluated using dry sliding wear and slurry tests. The results show that increasing the amount of nanosilica content has reduced the amount of accumulated mass loss. It was found that the FRP laminates with 25wt% of nanosilica have the highest wear resistance. The nanosilica filled fiber reinforced polymer composites have a high potential in tribological application such as ball bearing housing and snow sleds.

Keywords

• Specific wear rate
• Epoxy
• Nanosilica
• Fiber glass
• Dry sliding
• Slurry test