A model for the abrasive wear of fiber-reinforced polymer composites

A model for the abrasive wear of unidirectional fiber-reinforced polymer composites is proposed. Unlike steady state wear in which the different constituents wear at the same rate, the proposed model is cyclic (or quasi-steady state) in nature in which the fiber and the matrix do not always wear at the same rate. Two mechanisms, each representing the two extremes of cyclic wear behavior, are described. From these, modified rules of mixtures for the abrasive wear of unidirectional composites, incorporating the composite modulus, are derived and compared with existing data. The proposed model provides closer bounds to the abrasive wear resistance of polymer composites than predictions from the simple linear and inverse rules of mixtures that one obtains from the steady-state model.