EFFECT OF FIBRE REINFORCEMENT ON TRIBOLOGICAL PERFORMANCES OF HYBRID FRICTION COMPOSITES

Fibre plays an important role in determining the friction, wear and thermal stability of friction materials. In the present study, basalt and aramid (recycled) fibre reinforced hybrid friction composites were developed using hot compression moulding process and named as C1, C2 and C3, respectively. Aramid fibre (recycled) was kept constant at 5 wt.% and basalt fibre content was varied from 15 to 25 wt.%. Physical, chemical and mechanical properties of the composites were evaluated according to ASTM and IS 2742 of 1994 standards. Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) were conducted to understand the thermal stability of the friction composites. From TGA studies, it was confirmed that composite having higher amount of basalt fibre content (composite C1) shows better thermal stability and minimum weight loss than lower fibre content composites (C2 and C3). The fade and recovery behaviour was characterised on a chase friction tester according to SAE J661 standard. From the results, it was found that the frictional behaviour of the friction composites significantly influenced by the amount of fibre (basalt + aramid) reinforcement. The increased amount of basalt fibre imparts better fade and wear resistance and friction stability to friction composites. The wear loss was found to be decreases with increase in basalt fibre for all composites. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) helped to study the surface wear morphology of the composites.