Tribological Behavior of Acrylic Acid-Modified Date Palm Leaf-Reinforced Polyvinyl Alcohol Composite

Most machine components are frequently exposed to tribological loadings during their service life. Hence, the tribological performance of materials is an essential element to be considered in the design of mechanical parts in addition to mechanical properties. Previously, authors have studied the mechanical properties of date palm leaf-reinforced polyvinyl alcohol composite. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to investigate the tribological behavior of the composite under a multipass abrasion condition. The composite was prepared by reinforcing randomly oriented acrylic acid-modified date palm leaf fibers with varying weight percentages of 10, 20, 28, and 30%. The performances of the specific wear rate and wear weight loss were investigated as a function of applied loads and abrading distances. It was observed that 28wt% is the optimum fiber loading to achieve maximum tribological properties similar to mechanical properties obtained from previous work. Scanning electron microscopy was used to understand the wear mechanisms of the composite at optimum fiber loading.