Tribological characteristics of glass/carbon fibre-reinforced thermosetting polymer composites: a critical review

Fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have proliferated in the last few decades over conventional materials. The rapid growth and preference of FRP composites are attributed to their strength-to-weight, high stiffness-to-weight ratio, cost-effectiveness, and ease of manufacturing. The modern FRP composites emerged as an important class of tribo-material in the field of automotive, aerospace, transportation, and mining industries. In these industrial applications, the FRP composites experienced tribological complications. These applications of FRP composite materials as, for example, FRP conveyer belt, FRP leaf spring, FRP bearing, marine boat, exterior body component of the automobile, space shuttles, wing, fuselage and FRP bridge deck panel are subjected to severe tribological complications That is why tribological characteristics are important criteria in designing of FRP components. In this paper, an attempt has been made to review the fundamental aspects of tribology and explore the nature of ongoing researches carried out in recent past on the tribo-performance of carbon or glass fibre-reinforced thermoset polymer composites, specifically the adhesive wear. This paper also focuses on the transfer film characteristics of fibre-reinforced thermosets polymer composites and attempts to throw light upon the areas requiring extensive probing for the upcoming investigations in future.