Indian Journal of Engineering & Materials Sciences

Vol. 25, February 2018, pp. 89-97

Investigations on dry sliding wear behaviour of nylon-6 and GFR nylon-6

composites using Taguchi technique
Sudhir Kumar & K Panneerselvam*
Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620015, India

Received 17 March 2016; accepted 29 March 2017

Polymer materials have replaced the metals due to intrinsic lubrication property, superior wear resistance, excellent
strength and stiffness to weight ratio, chemical resistance, corrosion resistance and low processing cost. In food and
chemical industry polymers are widely used in gear and other sliding machining elements because excellent chemical
resistance and good lubrication properties. So In this paper, tribological properties of nylon-6 and glass fiber reinforced
(GFR) nylon 6 composites are investigated. Nylon-6 and GFR nylon-6 are injection molded for the fabrication of pins and
tested for coefficient of friction and specific wear rate against steel disc under dry condition on a pin-on-disc configuration.
The coefficient of friction and specific wear rate are studied at varying glass fiber content (0, 10, 20 and 30 wt%), different
sliding velocity (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 m/s), applied load (5, 10, 15 and 20 N), and constant sliding distance (1000 m) under
atmospheric condition of temperature and humidity. The disc specimen is made of AISI D2 steel. Process parameters are
optimized by taguchi technique. Scanning electron microscope is used further for the study of wear mechanism of worn
surface of specimens.

Keywords: Polymer, Steel, Mechanical properties, Tribological properties, Taguchi technique

Friction, wear, fatigue and corrosion are the major protection of metal disc by transfer layer. The main
drawbacks found by industries which lead to cause of wear loss of material was observed before
replacement of parts. In recent years, the tribological transfer layer formed on disc and loss of transfer layer
applications of polymer materials have been broadly by peeling from disc6,7. Eyre8 studied that wear of
used in sliding parts in food and chemical industries materials encountered in industrial situations are
such as gears and cams. This is because polymers have abrasive wear 50%, adhesive wear 15%, erosion wear
intrinsic lubrication behavior which avoids the use of 8%, fretting wear 8%, chemical wear 5% and others
oil lubrication. Adhesion and deformation mechanisms contribution are 14% as shown in Fig. 1. Friedrich and
are mainly involved in wear and friction of polymer. Schlarb9 concluded that the friction and wear behavior
The adhesion mechanism of friction of polymer of polymer under various experimental conditions
describes breakage of weak bonds between polymer
pin and steel disc. The deformation mechanism
describes the dissipation of energy in the contact area1.
Polymers showed low frictional coefficient
comparison to metal because of their less interfacial
adhesion energy2. Polymers have low wear resistance,
mechanical strength and low thermal conductivity so
that several reinforcements and filler materials are
mixed to the polymer to upgrade their tribological,
mechanical and thermal behaviour3,4. Nylon has
superior wear resistance, intrinsic lubrication behavior
and good tensile strength owing to hydrogen bond and
van der Waals force present in molecular chains of
nylon5. Wear mainly depends on the cohesion and
adhesion of the transfer film to the disc surface and
—————— Fig. 1 — Type of wear in industry (approximate percentage
*Corresponding author (E-mail: [email protected]) involved)8
90 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., FEBRUARY 2018

depends upon the properties like crystallinity, glass coefficient of friction and specific wear rate. If
transition temperature, mechanical properties, applied load increases the coefficient of friction
molecular weight, orientation , hardness and surface decreases but only limited at elastic constant, and
energy. On the other hand, the tribological system when plastic deformation starts then friction
itself, more precisely the loading characteristics, the coefficient slightly increases due to further increase in
counterpart material, as well as the external conditions load14. The coefficient of friction and specific wear
including the temperature or the presence of lubricants rate of glass fiber reinforced nylon-6 composites was
play a major role in wear mechanism and subsequently lowest at GF30%15. Xing et al.16,17 found that if
for the overall wear performance. An overview of the sliding velocity increased coefficient of friction
various factors influencing the wear behavior of decreased due to change in the temperature of surface
polymers is shown in Fig. 2. of the specimen.
The friction coefficient and specific wear rate of The objective of this paper is to study specific wear
polyamide 12 composites decreased with increasing rate, coefficient of friction and wear mechanism of
glass fiber and best obtained with the composites nylon-6 and GFR nylon-6 materials against steel disc.
containing 30 wt. % glass fibers. Further if glass fiber The Glass wt%, applied load, sliding velocity was
increased then friction coefficient and specific wear varied and the sliding distance of 1000 m was
rate increased10. If glass fiber content increased the maintained constant throughout the experiment. Worn
wear resistance improved and friction coefficient surface morphology of pin and disc specimens were
decreased. They observed that fiber reinforced also discussed.
showed more wear resistance against steel disc due to
transfer film formed on steel disc11,12. By using glass Experimental Procedure
and carbon fiber in nylon matrix, both the tribological Materials
and mechanical properties improved. When glass or The materials used in the study were nylon-6 and
aramid fiber is used the wear resistance improves GFR nylon-6 in form of granules as shown in Fig. 3.
when sliding against the steel disc. However, the The pin with various amount of GFR nylon-6 (0, 10,
behavior is mainly affected by many factors like type, 20, and 30 wt%) was produced by injection moulding
shape, size and reinforcement of the fibers, matrix machine (Modern Plastic and Equipment’s, Model-
materials used and the test condition in which the MPE-TLH-01). The tensile properties of the nylon-6
experiment is conducted13. The applied load and and GFR nylon-6 was evaluated using ASTM D638-
sliding velocity parameter was more effective on

Fig. 2 — Factors determining the wear and friction behavior of Fig. 3 — Pure nylon-6, 10, 20 and 30 wt% glass fiber reinforced
polymers nylon-6 (granules form)
 KUMAR & PANNEERSELVAM: DRY SLIDING WEAR BEHAVIOUR OF NYLON-6 AND GFR NYLON-6 COMPOSITES 91

14, Shore D hardness of the pin specimen was sliding distance (1000 m) under atmospheric condition
evaluated using ASTM D2240-05 and notched impact of temperature (23°C) and humidity (67 ±10). Density
strength was evaluated using ASTM D 256-10 as given of nylon-6 was observed 0.00113 g/mm3, 10 wt% GFR
in Table 1. The temperature of injection molding nylon-6 was 0.00120 g/mm3, 20 wt% GFR nylon-6 was
machine is maintained at 220°C, 225°C, 230°C and 0.00127 g/mm3 and 30 wt% GFR nylon-6 was 0.00135
240°C for 0, 10, 20 and 30 wt% GFR nylon-6, g/mm3, Before testing, all the pin specimens were
respectively. The dimension of pin specimen was 31 polished using a 600 grade SIC emery paper to ensure
mm length and 6 mm diameter and steel disc specimen full contact with disc and achieved same roughness.
was 70 mm diameter and 7mm thick. The Chemical Pin and disc specimen was cleaned using cotton soaked
composition of AISI D2 steel disc is given in Table 2. in acetone and dried before the test. The initial weight
before experiment and final weight after experiment of
Friction and wear testing specimen were weighted using an electronic digital
The tribological test was conducted under dry analytical balance having an accuracy of 0.1 mg.
condition as per ASTM G-99-05 standard on (DUCOM The specific wear rate KS (mm3/Nm) was
TR-20M-106) pin-on-disc arrangement with nylon-6 calculated by using Eq. (1).
and GFR nylon-6 pin specimens sliding against AISI Speci ic wear rate( s) = …(1)
× ×
D2 steel disc specimens. Figure 4 shows the schematic
diagram of pin-on-disc set-up. The friction and wear Where m1 and m2 are mass of the pin specimen before
tests were conducted at various glass fiber contents (0, and after experiment (g), ρ represents density of the
10, 20 and 30 wt%) applied load (5, 10, 15 and 20 N), pin specimen (g/mm3), N represents applied load (N),
sliding velocity (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 m/s) and constant and S represents sliding distance (m).
Table 1 — Mechanical properties of pure and GFR nylon-6 composites
Glass fiber content Shore D hardness Notched impact strength(J/mm) Ultimate tensile strength (N/mm2)
Sl. No.
(wt%) ASTM D 2240 ASTM D256 ASTM D 638
1 0% 63-65 0.137 51.208
2 10% 63-67 0.075 53.631
3 20% 72-74 0.125 71.358
4 30% 73-75 0.125 86.014

Table 2 — Chemical Composition of AISI D2 Steel

Element Fe Cr Mn Mo P Si V S C
Composition (wt%) 84.881 11.52 0.156 0.72 0.018 0.302 0.927 0.006 1.47

Fig. 4 — Schematic diagram of pin-on-disc setup

92 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., FEBRUARY 2018

Taguchi’s design of experiment content increases the coefficient of friction decreases.

Taguchi is a powerful tool for optimizing the The coefficient of friction was highest in the case of
performance through the settings of design parameters pure nylon-6 and on further addition of glass fiber the
and decreasing the fluctuation of system performance. coefficient of friction decreased as shown in Fig. 7.
Minitab statistical software can be used to explain the The major cause for variation in coefficient of friction
parameter effect. Taguchi method can be used to is due to transfer layer produced on disc, decreased
determine both the optimal result from finite adhesion of the pure nylon-6 and temperature of
analytical data and the dominant factors involved in contact zone. In pure nylon-6 cases the coefficient of
the optimization for friction and wear. Taguchi friction was highest and in case of GFR nylon-6 the
method uses a special design of orthogonal arrays to coefficient of friction is less due to formation of
study the entire parameter space with a small number transfer layer on steel disc. If applied load increases
of experiments only. The Taguchi method uses the then coefficient of friction decreases shown in Fig. 7.
signal to noise (S/N) ratio. The experimental results When sliding velocity increased coefficient of friction
are transformed into an S/N ratio. Usually, there are decreased due to change in temperature of surface of
three categories of quality characteristics in the specimen. In case of glass fiber content due to
analysis of the S/N ratio, i.e., lower-the-better, higher- rubbing of glass fiber of faced material the coefficient
the-better, and nominal-the-better. Here smaller the of friction decreased.
better characteristic is used as shown in Eq. (2).
S/N = -10 log [ ∑ y ] … (2)
Where y represents average observed data and
n represents number of tests.
The coefficient of friction and specific wear rate
was carried out with three control factors such as
glass fiber contents, applied loads and sliding velocity
each has four levels as shown in Table 3.

Analysis of variance
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a statistical
technique used to predict the significance of
process parameters on the quality characteristics.
Using Minitab 16 software, ANOVA is performed to
determine parameter which has a significant effect on Fig. 5 — Relation between sliding distance and coefficient of
friction under varying glass fiber content at velocity 0.5 m/s
the performance18,19. irrespective of load

Results and Discussion

Effect of glass fiber content, applied load and sliding velocity
on coefficient of friction and specific wear rate
The variation of coefficient of friction with respect
to sliding distance at varying glass fiber content
irrespective of applied loads is shown in Fig. 5.
During sliding applied load shared by both glass fiber
and nylonas shown in Fig. 6, but major part of applied
load was shared by glass fiber. When the glass fiber
Table 3 — Control factors and their levels
Levels
Control factors
1 2 3 4
A Glass fiber (wt %) 0 10 20 30
B Applied load (N) 5 10 15 20
Fig. 6 — Schematic representation of load sharing between fibres
C Sliding velocity(m/s) 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 and the matrix
 KUMAR & PANNEERSELVAM: DRY SLIDING WEAR BEHAVIOUR OF NYLON-6 AND GFR NYLON-6 COMPOSITES 93

Table 4 — Experimental results for coefficient of friction and specific wear rate
Exp run GFR (wt%) Load (N) Sliding velocity (m/s) Coefficient of friction (µ) Specific wear rate (mm3/Nm)
1 0 5 0.5 0.363 0.0000176
2 0 10 1.0 0.266 0.0000176
3 0 15 1.5 0.260 0.0000294
4 0 20 2.0 0.231 0.0000442
5 10 5 1.0 0.255 0.0000166
6 10 10 0.5 0.248 0.0000166
7 10 15 2.0 0.213 0.0000389
8 10 20 1.5 0.195 0.0000333
9 20 5 1.5 0.185 0.0000314
10 20 10 2.0 0.191 0.0000315
11 20 15 0.5 0.169 0.0000104
12 20 20 1.0 0.165 0.0000157
13 30 5 2.0 0.184 0.0000296
14 30 10 1.5 0.151 0.0000222
15 30 15 1.0 0.163 0.0000197
16 30 20 0.5 0.146 0.0000111

Fig. 7 — Effect of control factor on coefficient of friction for

mean Fig. 9 — Effect of control factor on coefficient of friction for S/N
ratio

and thermal conductivity increases so wear resistance

improved. When applied load increases specific wear
rate increases due to more heat produced at contact
zone. The specific wear rate increases if sliding
velocity increases due to increase in temperature of
the contact zone.

Taguchi analysis and ANOVA

The aim of this study is to find the combination of
factors to achieve the minimum coefficient of friction
Fig. 8 — Effect of control factor on specific wear rate for mean
and specific wear rate. The combination of factors
A4B4C3 offer minimum coefficient of friction Fig. 9.
Specific wear rate was observed between 1.049E-5 The combination of factors A4B2C1 offer minimum
mm3/Nm to 4.424E-5 mm3/Nm as shown in Table 4. specific wear rate as shown in Fig. 10. Table 5
In case of pure nylon-6, specific wear rate observed represents the S/N ratio response table for the
high and when glass fiber content increased then coefficient of friction. The Delta value which is
specific wear rate decreased as shown in Fig. 8. When the deviation between maximum and minimum
glass fiber content increases hardness, tensile strength S/N ratios gives the effect of influencing factor on the
94 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., FEBRUARY 2018

coefficient of friction. It is found out that glass fiber is

having the most effect and it is followed by applied
load and sliding velocity. Table 6 represents the S/N
ratio response table for specific wear rate. It is found
out that sliding velocity is having the most effect and
it is followed by glass fiber and applied load. Table 7
shows the results of the ANOVA with the coefficient
of friction. On the basis of ANOVA for minimum
coefficient of friction observed that glass fiber content
71.73%, sliding velocity 5.25 % and applied load
17.36% exerts a significant influence. Table 8 gives
the results of the ANOVA with specific wear rate wear.
Fig. 10 — Effect of control factor on specific wear rate for S/N For specific wear rate the glass fiber content 31.69%
ratio has the most contribution on the output followed by
sliding velocity 42.62% and applied load 19.67%3,4.
Table 5 — S/N ratio response Table for coefficient of friction
Confirmation tests for Taguchi analysis
S/N Ratios
Level Once the optimal level of the design parameters has
Glass fiber Applied load Sliding velocity
been determined using Minitab software for
1 11.18 12.51 13.27
coefficient of friction (0.146) and specific wear rate
2 12.90 13.60 13.69
(0.0000109) are A4B4C3 and A4B2C1 respectively. The
3 15.03 14.08 14.24 final step is to predict and verify the improvement of
4 15.90 14.82 13.81 the quality characteristic using the optimal level of the
Delta 4.72 2.31 0.98 design parameters. For the optimized design
Rank 1 2 3 parameters experiment trails were carried out to
estimate the experiemtal value of coefficient of
Table 6 — S/N ratio response Table for specific wear rate
friction (0.142) and specific wear rate (0.0000105).
S/N Ratios A very low % error of 2.73% and 3.66% was obtained
Level
Glass fiber Applied load Sliding velocity for coefficient of friction and specific wear rate
1 91.98 92.83 97.36 respectively between the predicted and experimental
2 92.24 93.45 95.22 values showing a good correlation as shown in Table 9.
3 93.96 93.15 90.83
Wear mechanism
4 94.21 92.95 88.98
Figures 11(a-b) shows the mechanism of adhesive
Delta 2.24 0.62 8.38
wear phenomena. Microscopy of the worn surfaces of
Rank 2 3 1
pure nylon-6 at 20 N applied load shown in Fig. 12a.
Table 7 — Analysis of variance for coefficient of friction
Source DF Seq SS Adj MS F-ratio P % contribution
Glass fiber 3 0.0346502 0.0115501 25.41 0.001 71.73
Load (N) 3 0.0083857 0.0027952 6.15 0.029 17.36
Sliding velocity (m/s) 3 0.0025407 0.0008469 1.86 0.237 5.25
Residual Error 6 0.0027274 0.0004546 - - 5.64
Total 15 0.0483039 - - - 100
Where, DF-Degree of freedom, Seq SS-Sequentional sums of squares, Adj MS-Adjusted mean squares, P-Probability

Table 8 — Analysis of variance for Specific wear rate

Source DF Seq SS Adj MS F P %contribution
Glass fiber 3 0.0000058 0.0000019 12.21 0.006 31.69
Load (N) 3 0.0000036 0.0000012 7.64 0.018 19.67
Sliding velocity (m/s) 3 0.0000078 0.0000026 16.44 0.003 42.62
Residual Error 6 0.0000010 0.0005371 - - 5.46
Total 15 0.0000183 - - - 100
 KUMAR & PANNEERSELVAM: DRY SLIDING WEAR BEHAVIOUR OF NYLON-6 AND GFR NYLON-6 COMPOSITES 95

Table 9 — Confirmation test

Error (%) = ((Prediction value-
Optimal parameters Experiment value)/Prediction
value)*100
Parameter levels Prediction value Experiment value
Coefficient of friction (µ) A4B4C3 0.146 0.142 2.73
Specific wear rate (mm3/Nm) A4B2C1 0.0000109 0.0000105 3.66

Fig. 11 — Mechanism of adhesive wear (a) nylon-6 and (b) GFR nylon-6

Fig.12 — Microscopy of worn surfaces of the nylon-6 composites under varying glass fiber content and velocity, at a load of 20 N :
(a) 0 wt% GF, (b) 10 wt% GF, (c) 20 wt% GF and (d) 30 wt% GF irrespective of sliding velocity
96 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., FEBRUARY 2018

In this case some adhesion with smearing and melting Fig. 15(a,b). At 5 N load worn surface showing
with sliding direction was observed. This is due to the wrinkle with sliding direction while at 20 N adhesion
temperature rise of the contact zone. Figures 12(b-d) with smearing and melting with sliding direction was
show the worn out surface of glass fiber reinforced observed. This is due to the temperature rise of the
nylon-6 composites. This is the main cause to lower contact zone.
the specific wear rate. Figures 12(b-d) show that when
glass fiber content increased then more rubbed glass
fiber was observed on the surface of nylon-6
composites. Figures 12a and 13a show smearing and
melting of polymer means plastic deformation due to
less thermal conductivity of pure nylon. Figures 12d
and 13b show debris patches with sliding direction
here the glass fiber found on the sliding surface of
nylon-6 composites; it played a significant role of
sharing load. When GFR nylon-6 slides against
steel disc, transfer films are observed. This transfer
film produced a cover to nylon-6 composites
from steel disc. In Fig. 14, worn surface of steel
disc shows continuous transfer film over the wear Fig. 14 — Transfer film formed on the steel disc surface testing
track. Microscopy of the worn surfaces of pure under condition at 30 wt% GFR nylon-6 and 20 N loads
nylon-6 at 5 N and 20 N applied load shown in irrespective of sliding velocity

Fig. 13 — SEM micrographs of the worn surfaces of the nylon-6 composites under varying glass fiber content and velocity, at a load of
20 N : (a) 0 wt% GF and (b) 30 wt% GFirrespective of sliding velocity

Fig. 15 — Microscopy of worn surfaces of the nylon-6 at a load of (a) 5 N and (b) 20 N
 KUMAR & PANNEERSELVAM: DRY SLIDING WEAR BEHAVIOUR OF NYLON-6 AND GFR NYLON-6 COMPOSITES 97

Conclusions (vi) Worn out surfaces of steel disc shows

In this experimental study, grey relational continuous transfer film over the wear track.
technique and cuckoo search was used to optimize
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