Tribological Characterization of Particulate Composites

Among composites, the polymer matrix ones are the cheapest and the easiest to form but they show major disadvantages such as poor electrical and thermal conductivity, low fire resistance etc. In the case of any composite, some of the properties may be designed, some of them may be obtained by using an appropriate forming technique and, at least, some of them may be improved by special treatments. In the case of polymer matrix composites the first two ways are recommended if we are taking into account the polymers’ properties while the last one will turn the PMC into an expensive material due to the costs of metal or oxide thin film deposition on polymeric surface. Is it possible to solve all the problems by material design and by developing a convenient forming technique? Powders are used as fillers in order to obtain bi-components composites. The most important aim is about the uniform distribution of particles in matrix. If the fillers’ particles are arranged into the polymer volume is possible to change the electro-magnetic behavior of the obtained composite making this one to act as a meta-material. The powders can be dielectric as talc, clay or ferrite can be magnetic active as ferrite, or electric active as CNT or carbon nano-fibers. All these powders have effects on the electromagnetic, thermal and mechanical properties of the composite. This study is about the influence of fillers on the tribological behavior of particulate composites. Epoxy resin was used as matrix and various powders were used to fill the polymer: ferrite, zinc, clay. The materials were thermally treated in order to reach the best polymer properties. Pin on disk fixture on a CETR-UTM had been used to determine the friction coefficient for each filler concentration. The Wear resistance of each material had been evaluated using the same apparatus but with some modifications.