Basalt vs. Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymers: A Statistical Comparison of Tribological Performance Under Dry Sliding Conditions

Abstract

The variety of fiber types embedded in fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites determines different tribology performance properties. In this work, the tribological properties under dry sliding conditions of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) and basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) were investigated and compared. Laminated composite specimens with different fiber content were manufactured by vacuum bagging and autoclave curing. Tensile and flexural mechanical properties, as well as pin-on-disk tribological properties of the composite specimens, were analyzed. A design of experiments was performed considering the influence of fiber weight fraction, fiber type, and sliding speed on the coefficient of friction (COF), specific wear rate (K), and contact temperature. A multifactorial ANOVA was performed to identify the significance and contribution percentage of each factor. Deep investigations to understand the wear mechanisms were performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results of the statistical analysis showed that the interaction between fiber type and sliding speed had the most significant influence on the COF (31.36%), while the fiber weight fraction had the predominant effect on the specific wear rate (22.04%), and the sliding speed was the most influential factor affecting temperature (82.88%). BFRP composites consistently performed better than GFRP in all tribological metrics, such as coefficient of friction, specific wear rate, and contact temperature.