Effect of ECR-glass additions in the mechanical and tribological properties of TiO₂ reinforced polyimide composites

ABSTRACT

The use of polyimide-reinforced composite materials in the design and fabrication of components for mechanical and tribological operation systems remains a research focus. As such, the present study investigated the effect of electrical corrosion resistance (ECR) glass on the mechanical and tribological properties of hybrid-polyimide composites using spark plasma sintering (SPS) method. The hardness and elastic modulus of the thermoplastic polyimide reinforced with TiO₂ and ECR particles was investigated in this study with a nanoindentation tester under applied load of 200 mN. While the friction and wear behavior of the composites was ascertained with pin-on-disc tester under 10 N at 150 rpm with a stainless steel counterpart at room temperature. The results showed that the ECR glass addition remarkably improved the hardness and elastic modulus of the hybrid composites. Incorporation of the 10 wt% ECR glass effectively reduced the friction coefficient and wear rate by 55.5% and 92.2%, respectively, corroborating the potential of these ECR-TiO₂-PI composites for applications requiring a low friction coefficient and wear rate with high mechanical properties.

KEYWORDS:

• Polyimide
• ECR glass
• mechanical properties
• tribological properties

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Centre for Tribology (CT), Centre for Energy and Electric Power (CEEP), Centre for Surface Engineering Research (CSER), and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) South Africa for their financial support in the course of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).