Rolling contact fatigue behavior of polyamide clay reinforced nanocomposite—Effect of load and speed

Polymer nanocomposites (PNC) have received considerable research attention in the last decade owing to its remarkable improvement on tribological characteristics. In this paper, rolling contact fatigue (RCF) behaviour of polyamide 6 (PA6) nanocomposite in unlubricated, non-conformal, rolling contact has been investigated using twin-disc test rig. Using co-rotating twin-screw extruder machine, nanoclays are dispersed uniformly into the polymer by melt intercalation method. RCF behaviour at different normal loads (P) (150, 175, 200 and 225 N) and rolling speeds (V) (1000, 1500 and 2000 rpm) were investigated to understand the pressure–velocity (PV) parameter effects. Temperature raises proportional to applied PV parameter which influences the fatigue life, wear rate and failure modes. The wear rate, temperature raise, fatigue life cycle and failure mechanisms under rolling contact fatigue are discussed.