Liesbet De Doncker

Frictional behavior of glass fiber reinforced polyester under different loads

Pultruded glass fibre reinforced polyester where used to investigated the frictional behaviour of the 45° fibre orientation. Therefore, on a rebuild Pin-on-disc test rig, using composite discs and steel pins, the frictional behaviour of these materials is investigated. Due to the indicated fibre orientation, and a simple trigger mechanism, it was possible to distinguish the friction force for different fibre orientations. The classical know orientations, parallel and perpendicular to the direction of sliding provided expected results, for both cases. The ~45° orientation, which is extremely important regarding filament wounded bearings, behaved in both cases similar -- regarding friction force-- in an unexpected way. The friction force of the 45° orientation was higher in all cases, and the amount was similar to the difference between the parallel and perpendicular case. These findings yield the conclusion that the 45° orientations cannot be neglected in frictional studies, and the behaviour of weft-warp structures also determines performance.