Szent István University. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Abstract
In the last few decades natural fiber composites has gained its importance due to its low cost and their availability as additives with minimal processing. Amongst the various natural sources the Jute fiber is chosen in the present research due to its fiber structure and good physical and mechanical properties. In this background natural fiber composites of unsaturated polyester were reinforced with jute fibers.
While most research on green composites focuses on the structural characteristics, the present work investigates the suitability of the material to be used as a tribocomposite. Tailor made hybrid composites were made with chemically treated (NaOH) jute fiber and 2 wt % PTFE filler (tribo lubricant) to obtain the better tribological characteristics in high loading condition. Tribotests were performed on flat on flat configuration where 100Cr6 steel was used as counterface material.
A pv limit of 400 MPa-mm/s (10KN and 100 mm/s) was attainedin a flat-on-flat configuration for studying the tribological properties. The static and dynamic coefficient of friction was found to be 0.15 and 0.07 respectively.An exponential increase in temperature was observed throughout the test. The material failure was observed within 500 m of sliding distance where pulverization of matrix due to thermal degradation is evident. Wear mechanisms such as fiber breakage, polymer degradation, fiber thinning and fiber separation was observed. From the present investigation the low cost Jute fabric composites havinglow frictional coefficient seemed to be a alternative to the bearing materials working at higher contact pressure and low velocity
