Wear behavior of carbon fiber aluminium-composites during abrasive loading

Abrasive wear resistance of aluminium is significantly improved by the reinforcement with a high volume percentage of carbon fibers. The wear of unreinforced aluminium after scratching by a diamond indenter can be described as pure microgrooving without any micro;chipping. After integration of 70 vol.-% carbon fibers the damage mechanism is considerably altered and a great amount of micro-chipping occurs. The abrasive wear is strongly influenced by the fiber orientation. The best wear resistance is observed when the fibers are orientated perpendicular to the wear surface.