Sliding wear and friction characteristics of sisal fiber reinforced polymer composites:effect of silane coupling agent and applied load.

Chopped sisal fibre-reinforced polyester composites with and without silane modification were prepared. Wear and friction measurements on the chopped sisal fibre reinforced polyester composites have been performed at different loads for different weight percentages of sisal fibre by using a pin-on-disc wear and friction tester. It has been found that increase of chopped sisal fibre content increased the Pressure-Velocity (PV) limit of composites. Silane modification improved the wear resistance of untreated sisal fibre reinforced polyester composite. Coefficient of friction increased with increase of fibre content and decreased with increase of load. Wear mechanism has been discussed with the help of SEM observations. POLYM. COMPOS.