PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

This research investigated the wear properties of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) filled epoxy polymer and fiber reinforced composites. The CNT/epoxy composites with 0.5 wt% and 1.0 wt% CNT contents were mixed at 50°C for 1 hour at a speed of 400 rpm using mechanical mixer, while woven glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) nanocomposites were fabricated using vacuum bagging technique. The effect of CNT on wear properties was evaluated using dry sliding abrasion wear test that used vitrified bonded silicon carbide as abrasive wheels. The mass loss and specific wear rate curves show that wear properties of epoxy polymer and GFRP composite systems were enhanced when CNT was added. Epoxy polymer and GFRP nanocomposites showed the highest wear resistance when CNT content was 1.0 wt% and 0.5 wt% respectively. The CNT-filled composite showed improvement till up to 78.9 % from its pure system. This suggested that the load transferability between CNT and epoxy was more effective in nanomodified systems than in its pure systems. Therefore, adding CNT improves the wear properties of epoxy polymer and woven GFRP composite.