Comparison of tribological behaviour for Nylon6-Al-Al₂O₃ and ABS parts fabricated by fused deposition modelling

Abstract

In the present work, a comparison of the tribological properties of Nylon6-Al-Al₂O₃ and ABS parts fabricated using the fused deposition modelling (FDM) method is made. Under dry sliding conditions at room temperature, the sliding wear behaviour of FDM-built parts with three different proportions of Al and Al₂O₃ was investigated. Loads of 5, 10, 15 and 20 were applied at a sliding velocity of 1.36 m/s for durations of 5 and 10 minutes. The results show that all FDM-built Nylon6-Al-Al₂O₃ components have better wear resistance as compared to their FDM-built ABS counterparts. Further, the influences of filler materials on various wear mechanisms such as adhesion, abrasion, etc. are identified. It was also observed that the composite materials prepared with different proportions are more wear resistant, having less friction coefficients and friction force than the commercially used ABS material for FDM components.

Keywords:

• composite material
• FDM parts
• tribology
• rapid tooling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.