Dry sliding wear of epoxy/cenosphere syntactic foams

Abstract

Abstract Dry sliding wear behavior of epoxy matrix syntactic foams filled with 20, 40 and 60 wt% fly ash cenosphere is reported based on response surface methodology. Empirical models are constructed and validated based on analysis of variance. Results show that syntactic foams have higher wear resistance than the matrix resin. Among the parameters studied, the applied normal load (F) had a prominent effect on wear rate, specific wear rate (w<inf>s</inf>) and coefficient of friction (?). With increasing F, the wear rate increased, whereas w<inf>s</inf> and ? decreased. With increase in filler content, the wear rate and w<inf>s</inf> decreased, while the ? increased. With increase in sliding velocity as well as sliding distance, the wear rate and w<inf>s</inf> show decreasing trends. Microscopy revealed broken cenospheres forming debris and extensive deformation marks on the wear surface. 2015 Elsevier Ltd.