The present work investigates experimentally the effect of reinforcing epoxy matrix by continuous polyester fibers of different diameters on the friction and wear at dry sliding against steel surface. It was observed that epoxy composites reinforced by polyester fibers showed drastic decrease in friction coefficient, where the highest value was observed for epoxy free of fibers. Besides, friction coefficient significantly increased with increasing fiber diameter. Wear of the tested composites decreased with increasing polyester content, while wear remarkably increased with increasing fiber diameter. It is recommended to test polyester fibers of lower diameter than that tested in the present work to specify the composites of the lowest friction coefficient and wear.
Zahraa et al. (Tue,) studied this question.