Tribological and Mechanical Properties of HDPE Reinforced by Al2O3 Nanoparticles for Bearing Materials

Abstract

The current work focuses on improvingthe tribological and mechanical properties of high density polyethylene (HDPE) reinforced by 0.1– 0.5 wt. % of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles.The nano-composite specimens were prepared to the cylindrical shape and subjected to friction and wear tests using pin on disc tribometer.The specimenswere tested as counterpart and the diskwere emery paper with grit size of 1200 μm. Wear tests were done each exactly 120 sec., and the weight lossis calculated by weighing the specimens before and after the test.The hardness test was obtained by utilizing the Durometer, Shore D, hardness analyzer according to the ASTM standard D2240.It is very well noticed from the experiments that the HDPE nano-composite specimen of 0.5% wt of Al₂O₃gives the best tribological properties so that the friction coefficient is reduced by 11.1%.The wear rate has characterized a declining trend with increase in Al₂O₃.It is obvious that adding of aluminum oxide contents may be the main reason for significant improvement of hardness that reaches 9.1%.Thus, there are irrefutable improvement observed in respect of the HDPE/Al₂O₃ matrix.