Friction and Wear Behavior of Vinylester Resin Matrix Composites Filled with Fly Ash Particles

Fly ash filled vinylester resin matrix composites were prepared with a filler loading of 40 and 50 wt%. The friction and wear behavior of neat resin and fly ash filled composites were studied with the help of a pin-on-disc wear tester with the composite pin sliding over an abrasive sheet under three different normal loads. Wear behavior was quantified in terms of weight loss, linear wear, and coefficient of friction of the test samples; these were much higher in neat resin compared to composites. Among the composites, a better wear resistance was shown by the 40% filled composites with a lower wear loss, lesser linear wear, and a minimum value of the coefficient of friction. It was evident that the linear wear increased steadily in the case of vinylester resin with increase in sliding distance, whereas linear wear was much less and was almost constant in the composites with the increase in sliding distance under all three different normal loads. It was also observed that the difference between the coefficients of friction of the 40% and 50% filled composites decreased with the increase in the normal load. The fly ash filled vinylester resin matrix composites were thus found to be much more wear resistant than for neat resin and this behavior can be exploited for various newer applications.