Abrasive wear behaviour of hard powders filled glass fabric–epoxy hybrid composites

The effect of incorporation of tungsten carbide (WC) and tantalum niobium carbide (Ta/NbC) powders on three-body abrasive wear behaviour in glass fabric–epoxy (G–E) composites was investigated and findings are analysed. A vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding (VARTM) technique was employed to obtain a series of G–E composites containing different fillers (WC and WC + Ta/NbC). Dry sand rubber wheel abrasion test was carried out at 200 rpm speed. The effect of different loads (22 and 32 N) and abrading distances (from 135 to 540 m) on the performance of the wear resistance were measured. The wear volume loss of the composites was found increasing with the increase in abrading distances and under the same conditions the specific wear rate decreases. The hard powders filled G–E composite systems exhibit lower wear volume loss and lower specific wear rate as compared to unfilled G–E composite system. The features of worn surfaces of the specimen were evaluated at higher and lower abrading distances at load of 32 N were using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and results indicate more severe damage to matrix and glass fiber in unfilled composite system as compared to hard powder filled composites.