TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, G. A1 - Österle, Werner A1 - Jim, B. A1 - Häusler, Ines A1 - Hesse, Rene A1 - Wetzel, B. T1 - The role of surface topography in the evolving microstructure and functionality of tribofilms of an epoxy-based nanocomposite N2 - The topographic effect of steel counterface, finished by mechanical grinding with Ra ranging from 0.01 to 0.95 µm, on the structure and functionality of the tribofilm of a hybrid nanocomposite, i.e. epoxy matrix filled with monodisperse silica nanoparticles, carbon fibers and graphite, was systematically investigated. The nanostructure of the tribofilm was comprehensively characterized by using combined focused ion beam and transmission electron microscope analyses. It was identified that oxidation of the steel surface, release, compaction and tribosintering of silica nanoparticles and deposition of an epoxy-like degradation product as well as fragmentation of carbon fibers are main mechanisms determining the structure and functionality of the tribofilm. The size of roughness grooves determines the type and size class of wear particles to be trapped at the surface. An optimum groove size leading to a maximum of surface coverage with a nanostructured tribofilm formed mainly from released silica nanoparticles was identified. KW - hybrid nanocomposite KW - tribological performance KW - topographic effect KW - tribofilm KW - nanostructure PY - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2016.06.012 VL - 364-365 SP - 48 EP - 56 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-37937 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Qi, H. A1 - Zhang, G. A1 - Wetzel, B. A1 - Wang, T. A1 - Wang, Q. A1 - Österle, Werner T1 - Exploring the influence of counterpart materials on tribological behaviors of epoxy composites N2 - The dependence of the friction and wear of epoxy (EP) composites materials on counterpart materials, such as standard bearing steel, medium carbon steel and chrome-plating (Cr), was investigated. The conventional composite filled with short carbon fiber (SCF) and graphite shows the highest tribological performance when rubbing against Cr, whereas, the hybrid nanocomposite (EP filled with SCF, graphite and silica nanoparticles) exhibits the lowest friction and wear when sliding against the standard bearing steel. The role of nanoparticles in the tribological performance is distinctly different when sliding against with various counterpart materials. It is demonstrated that counterpart materials exert an important influence on material transfer, tribo-oxidation and mechanical mixing of wear products, resulting in the different formation mechanisms of transfer film. KW - Counterpart materials KW - Transfer film KW - Epoxy composites KW - Nanoparticles PY - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2016.08.015 VL - 103 SP - 566 EP - 573 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-37941 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dmitriev, A. I. A1 - Häusler, Ines A1 - Wetzel, B. A1 - Zhang, G. A1 - Österle, Werner T1 - Modeling of the stress-strain behavior of an epoxy-based nanocomposite filled with silica nanoparticles N2 - The method of movable cellular automata (MCA) was applied to simulate the stress-strain behavior of a nano composite consisting of an epoxy matrix and 6 vol. % silica nano particles. The size of the elements used for modelling was fixed at 10 nm, corresponding approximately to the diameter of the filler particles. Since not only the stress-strain response of the two constituents but also debonding of neighboring particles and granular flow was taken into account, plastic deformation as well as crack initiation and propagation could be simulated with the model. Modelling results were compared with tensile test results of both, pure epoxy as well as the epoxy-6 vol. % SiO2 composite. Since assuming bulk properties of the two constituents did not yield satisfactory results, slight modifications of the nanoparticle response functions and nanostructures were tested numerically. Finally, it was observed that only the assumption of slightly increased strength properties of the epoxy yielded good correlation between experimental and modelling results. This was attributed to an increased cross linking of the epoxy caused by the presence of silica nano particles. KW - Nanocomposite KW - Polymer matrix composite KW - Stress-strain behavior KW - Modeling KW - Computational mechanics PY - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2015.10.038 SN - 0264-1275 VL - 89 SP - 950 EP - 956 PB - Elsevier AN - OPUS4-35596 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Österle, Werner A1 - Dmitriev, A. I. A1 - Wetzel, B. A1 - Zhang, G. A1 - Häusler, Ines A1 - Jim, B.C. T1 - The role of carbon fibers and silica nanoparticles on friction and wear reduction of an advanced polymer matrix composite N2 - Excellent tribological properties of an advanced polymer matrix composite were obtained by a combination of micro- and nano-sized fillers. Surface features and the nanostructure of tribofilms were characterized by advanced microscopic techniques, and correlated with the macroscopic behavior in terms of wear rate and friction evolution. A model based on movable cellular automata was applied for obtaining a better understanding of the sliding behavior of the nanostructured tribofilms. The failure of the conventional composite without silica nanoparticles could be attributed to severe oxidational wear after degradation of an initially formed polymer transfer film. The hybrid composite preserves its antiwear and antifriction properties because flash temperatures at micron-sized carbon fibers, lead to polymer degradation and subsequent release of nanoparticles. It has been shown that the released particles are mixed with other wear products and form stable films at the disc surface thus preventing further severe oxidational wear. Furthermore, the released wear product also is embedding carbon fibers at the composite surface thus preventing fiber fragmentation and subsequent third body abrasion. With nanoscale modelling we were able to show that low friction and wear can be expected if the nanostructured silica films contain at least 10 vol.% of a soft ingredient. KW - Carbon fibers KW - Silica nanoparticles KW - Hybrid composite KW - Tribological properties KW - Tribofilm KW - Sliding simulation PY - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2015.12.175 SN - 0264-1275 VL - 93 SP - 474 EP - 484 PB - Elsevier AN - OPUS4-35598 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -