Improving wear resistence of glass fiber reinforced engineering plastics used in automotive industry

Thermoplastic materials are widely used in automotive sector due to their good mechanical and termal properties. In this study, glass fiber reinforced polyamide 6 (PA6) composite materials were produced with extrusion method by using different percentages of synthetic, natural graphite and carbon nanotube reinforcements. In addition Termoplastic polyurethane (TPU) materials which were reinforced with by means of glass fiber and graphite reinforced recycled polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and natural polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) are investigated. Mechanical and termal characterization of the produced specimens are carried out. Afterwards coeffient of friction and wear loss were determined in order to evaluate the wear behaviours. After wear test, samples were examinated with scanning electron microscope (SEM) in order to evaluate the visual characterization of the worn surfaces. In consequence of performed characterization studies, depending on amount and type of reinforcement, PA6, POK and TPU based composite materials have shown not only improved wear performance, moreover materials have shown better mechanical and thermal behaviour.