Wet adhesive wear characteristics of untreated oil palm fibre-reinforced polyester and treated oil palm fibre-reinforced polyester composites using the pin-on-disc and block-on-ring techniques

Abstract

This article presents an investigation on the wear and friction characteristics of oil palm fibre-reinforced polyester (OPRP) composites sliding against a polished stainless steel counterface under wet contact conditions. Two different types of OPRP composites were fabricated, which were based on treated and untreated oil palm fibres (treated oil palm fibre-reinforced polyester (T-OPRP) and untreated oil palm fibre-reinforced polyester (UT-OPRP), respectively). The experiments were conducted using two different techniques, pin-on-disc (POD) and block-on-ring (BOR), integrated into the same tribo-machine. The tests were conducted at different rotational speeds (500 and 700 r/min) and 50 N applied load for different durations (10-60 min). The specific wear rate (W_s) and the friction coefficient were presented as a function of sliding distance. The morphology of the worn surfaces was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the damage features were characterized. The results revealed that treating oil palm fibres has a significant effect on the wear and frictional performance of OPRP composites. Treating the oil palm fibres enhanced the wear properties of polyester by about 35-52 and 65-75 per cent in the case of the POD and BOR techniques, respectively. The observations on the worn surfaces showed various features of the damages such as debonding and breakage of fibres in the UT-OPRP composite.