Wear and Friction behaviour of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Composites due to Galvanic Corrosion

Abstract

Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRPs) are widely used in many tribological applications due to their high mechanical properties with a low density, especially for weight reduction purposes. In particular, carbon fibres have been considered as the most effective fibrous reinforcements, thanks to its mechanical strengthening effects and self-lubricating functions. However, when carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are coupled with metal joints, galvanic corrosion sometime occurs due to the difference in electro-chemical potentials of CFRPs and most of the metals. When polymer composites slide against a metal counterpart, the galvanic corrosion may occur and affect their wear performance, depending on the type of metal and contact conditions. In particular the following studies have been carried out. Firstly, a comparison study between continuous carbon fibre and glass fibre reinforced composites was conducted. This work evaluated the friction and wear performance of mentioned composites under various tribological loading conditions. It was found that carbon fibres were more superior in both mechanical and tribological performance. On the other hand, glass fibres demonstrated a better corrosion resistance. Further, the effects of corrosion behaviour on the tribological performance of CFRP composites were investigated. Consequently, a combined corrosion-wear mechanism model was proposed. Finally, we proposed the fabrication and design of a novel high wear-resistant hybrid composites consisting of carbon fibres and nanoparticles to alleviate the corrosion behaviours by producing an effective transfer film to protect carbon fibres from severe wear mechanisms due to the direct contact with the metal counterparts.