Investigations on dry sliding wear behaviour of nylon-6 and GFR nylon-6 composites using Taguchi technique

摘要

Polymer materials have replaced the metals due to intrinsic lubrication property, superior wear resistance, excellent strength and stiffness to weight ratio, chemical resistance, corrosion resistance and low processing cost. In food and chemical industry polymers are widely used in gear and other sliding machining elements because excellent chemical resistance and good lubrication properties. So In this paper, tribological properties of nylon-6 and glass fiber reinforced (GFR) nylon 6 composites are investigated. Nylon-6 and GFR nylon-6 are injection molded for the fabrication of pins and tested for coefficient of friction and specific wear rate against steel disc under dry condition on a pin-on-disc configuration. The coefficient of friction and specific wear rate are studied at varying glass fiber content (0, 10, 20 and 30 wt%), different sliding velocity (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 m/s), applied load (5, 10, 15 and 20 N), and constant sliding distance (1000 m) under atmospheric condition of temperature and humidity. The disc specimen is made of AISI D2 steel. Process parameters are optimized by taguchi technique. Scanning electron microscope is used further for the study of wear mechanism of worn surface of specimens.