The present study investigates the effect of reinforcing epoxy matrix by carbon fibres (CF) on the friction and wear. Adhesion and abrasive tests have been carried out using short and continuous carbon fibres of different contents. Based on the experimental results it is found that, for adhesion test, friction coefficient of the tested composites slightly decreased with increasing CF content. As the load increased friction coefficient decreased. Slight decrease in friction coefficient was observed for the increase of the length ratio of CF. Besides, as the fibres content increased friction coefficient decreased.Wear drastically decreased with increasing fibres content, while increased with increasing applied load. The detached CF from the matrix might spread over the sliding surface and decrease the contact area between the tested composites and the counterface and hence friction and wear decreased. The results of the scratch tests revealed that friction coefficient of the scratched tested composites decreased with increasing fibres content, while it increased as the load increased. Wear drastically decreased with increasing fibres content. It is clearly shown that CF displayed relatively lower wear scar width compared to unreinforced epoxy composites due to the strength improvement of the fibres. Unreinforced epoxy exhibited the highest wear. As the length ratio of CF increased, wear slightly decreased, where continuous fibres displayed the lowest wear values.
A. A. Ibrahim (Sat,) studied this question.