Mechanical Properties and Wear Behavior of a Novel Composite of Acrylonitrile–Butadiene–Styrene Strengthened by Short Basalt Fiber

Abstract

Polymer matrix composites (PMC) have a competitive and dominant role in a lot of industries, like aerospace and automobiles. Short basalt fiber (SBF) is used to strengthen acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) polymers as a composite. The composite material is fabricated using injection molding with a new technique to obtain a uniform distribution for the ABS matrix at an elevated temperature range from 140 °C to 240 °C. Four types of specimen were produced according to the mechanically mixed amounts of SBF, which were (5, 10, 15, 20) wt %. The produced material was tested for tension, hardness and impact to measure the enhancement of the mechanical properties of the ABS only and the ABS reinforced by SBF composite. Wear tests were carried out using a pin on disc at a velocity of 57.5 m/s at three normal loads of 5, 10 and 15 kN. Tensile strength increased with up to 5 wt % of SBF, then decreased with an increasing amount of SBF reinforcement, while surface hardness increased with increasing SBF. The impact strength was found to degrade with the whole increment of SBF. Wear resistance increased with the increasing SBF reinforcement amount at all applied normal loads.