Wear Properties of Nanoclay Modified Basalt Fibre Composites Under Dry Adhesive Sliding, Two-body Abrasive and Slurry Pot Erosive

Abstract This paper reports the effect of 1.0 wt%, 3.0 wt% and 5.0 wt% nanoclay loadings on specific wear rate properties of basalt fibre reinforced polymer (BFRP) composites. The specific wear rate properties of the BFRP composites were analysed at three different wear conditions, i.e. dry adhesive sliding, two-body abrasion and slurry pot erosion in which the composites slide against smooth steel, rough silicon carbide and medium coarse sand mixture, respectively. The operating parameters for the wear tests were set at 30 N load, 300 rpm speed and 10 km distance. The results demonstrated that nanoclay incorporation enhanced the adhesive and erosive wear properties of BFRP composites up to 32% and 51%, respectively. In contrast, nanoclay incorporation deteriorated the abrasive wear properties of BFRP with increasing in nanoclay loading. The morphology of worn surfaces was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study the wear behavior of the nanoclay modified BFRP composites. It concluded that nanoclay incorporation exhibited significant influence on wear properties of the polymer composites depending on the wear environment condition.