Mechanical and abrasive wear response of PTFE coated glass fabric composites

The present study evaluates the influence of hybridization on the interlaminar shear and abrasive wear properties of composites manufactured with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coated glass fabrics. Homogeneous composites were manufactured using two dimensional plain woven (2D), three dimensional knitted (3D) and satin weave (SW) fabrics. Hybrid composites were manufactured with the same fabrics and a steel metal mesh (MM) stacked on the top and bottom of the laminates. The interfacial property was obtained through interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) tests. Abrasive wear tests were performed against a silicon carbide (SiC) paper of grit size 120 μm using a plate on plate apparatus. Loads ranging from 10 N to 50 N were applied at an interval of 10 N with a speed of 10 rad/s. Incorporation of MM influenced the physical properties like thickness, density and void content. Hybridization of homogeneous composites with MM improved the ILSS by 56%, 10% and 18% for 2D, 3D and SW composites, respectively. All the hybrid composites showed better wear performance in terms of coefficient of friction (COF) and specific wear rate (K₀). SW and SW-MM composites exhibited better wear performance in all the wear properties as compared to the 2D, 2D-MM, 3D and 3D-MM composites. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the bonding between fibre and matrix could be improved in the case of 2D and 2D-MM composites.