Effect of betelnut fibres treatment and contact conditions on adhesive wear and frictional performance of polyester composites

The current work is an attempt to use treated betelnut fibres (in mat form) as reinforcement in polyester composites. The fibres were obtained from Alor Star in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. Wear and frictional characteristics of T-BFRP composite were investigated against polished stainless steel counterface under dry/wet contact conditions using a BOD machine. The tests were conducted at 2.8 m/s sliding velocity, different applied loads (5-200 N) and sliding distances (0-6.72 km). Different orientation of the fibre mats with respect to the sliding direction of the counterface was considered; anti-parallel (AP), parallel (P) and normal (N). The worn surface morphology was studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). An optical microscope was used to observe the wear track surface on the counterface, and the modifications on the counterface roughness were studied. This work revealed that the wear and frictional performance of the composite were enhanced under wet contact conditions by about 54% and 95% compared to the dry. Specific wear rate under wet test for AP-O (2.5 ± 0.01 × 10−8), and P-O (2.3 ± 0.01 × 10−8), was low compared to the dry test (AP-O: 5.1 ± 0.01 × 10−8; P-O: 15 ± 0.5 × 10−8). The composite exhibited high wear performance in AP-O compared to P-O followed by N-O under both dry/wet contact conditions.