Wear behavior of straw fiber-reinforced polyvinyl chloride composites under simulated acid rain conditions

In order to investigate the effect of simulated acid rain (SAR) corrosion on the wear-resistance properties of straw fiber/polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) composites, four types of straw fibers (wheat straw (WS), rice straw (RS), corn straw (CS), and sorghum straw (SS) fibers) were utilized and incorporated into poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). The results show that the SS fibers have high levels of cellulose, lignin and crystallinity, and it also exhibited high adhesion strength with PVC matrix, which endow the SS/PVC with high wear-resistance compared with other three SPVC composites. After SAR corrosion, SPVC composites exhibited severe degradation of the physical, mechanical, and thermal properties, and the fibers were easily pulled out from the matrix to form abrasive particles. The high-speed fiber debris in high-temperature and high-loading environments can be deemed a kind of “incompressible lumps” that will form a certain abrasive wear.