Tribological Studies of Nanoclay Filled Epoxy Hybrid Laminates

In this work, the tribological properties of a new class of hybrid composite material were examined. The hybrid composite consisting of glass fiber-reinforced epoxy polymer filled with nanoclay particles was prepared by vacuum-assisted resin infusion molding (VARIM). The effect of fiber content, fiber orientation, and nanoclay concentration on wear properties was examined. The results indicate that at higher fiber content (75 wt%), nanoclay addition in composites has less effect on the wear rate, whereas a significant positive effect was observed when nanoclay was filled in lower fiber content (25 and 50 wt%) composites. Microscopy examination reveals that nanoclay addition improves the wear properties of a matrix-rich phase at low fiber content with improved fiber matrix adhesion, whereas this effect was negligible in higher fiber content composites due to the reduced matrix concentration. The result also shows that the friction and wear of hybrids is a function of fiber orientation and epoxy-clay nanocomposite structure formation as studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis.