Mechanical and Abrasive Wear Behavior of Metal Sulphide Lubricant Filled Epoxy Composites

The present work reveals the effect of the addition of commercial MoS2 (10 wt%) particles on mechanical and two-body abrasive wear behavior of epoxy with/without glass fiber mat reinforcement. The composites were fabricated using casting and simple hand lay-up techniques followed by compression molding. The mechanical properties such as density, hardness, tensile, and flexural properties were determined as per ASTM standards. The abrasive wear testing was carried out using pin-on-disc wear tester for different loads and abrading distances at constant speed of 1 m/s. A significant reduction in wear loss and specific wear rate was noticed after the incorporation of MoS2 filler allowing less wear of matrix during abrasion which in turn facilitated lower fiber damage. However the incorporation of MoS2 particles had a detrimental effect on most of the mechanical properties of the composites. The worn surface features were investigated through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to investigate the wear mechanisms.