An investigation of wear behavior of nanoparticle added epoxy resins

This thesis study investigated the wear behaviour of nanocomposites obtained by adding different ratios (1–5%) of nanoclay, halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and tungsten carbide (WC) particles to epoxy resin. The samples were prepared using mechanical and planetary centrifugal mixing methods. The experiments were carried out on a block-on-disk test rig in accordance with ASTM G77-05 standard, applying loads of 60, 120 and 180 N and sliding the samples over distances of 500 and 1000m. Pure epoxy was found to have low wear resistance and weight loss was observed to increase significantly with higher loads and sliding distances. For nanoclay reinforcement, a 2% addition provided the best results, whereas higher ratios led to reduced performance due to agglomeration. The addition of WC was found to be the most effective in improving wear resistance in both methods, particularly within the 2–4% range, minimising wear values. For HNT, the optimal ratio depended on the load level: 1–2% produced the best results at low loads, whereas 4% was more effective at high loads. While the centrifugal method ensured more homogeneous particle dispersion, increased losses were observed over longer sliding distances at higher filler contents due to agglomeration. Overall, low to moderate filler contents provided optimum performance.