Wear Mechanism of Glass Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites Under Dry Sliding Using Fuzzy Clustering Technique

Polymers and polymer composites are steadily gaining ground over metals in the field of engineering applications in tribology. In the present study, the friction and wear behavior of glass fiberreinforced epoxy composites against stainless steel under dry sliding conditions has been comparatively evaluated on a friction and wear tester at different sliding velocities ranging from 0.6 to 2.5 m/s and normal force of 9.81 to 19.62 N. Besides, conventional weighing, determination of coefficient of friction (mu), temperature, wear rate, and examination of the worn surface features were taken by scanning electron microscope. Fuzzy clustering technique has been used to plot the wear rate and wear transition map. The tribological behavior of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites, the wear mechanisms and its relation with a wear transition map are discussed in detail.