Erosion Behavior of Thermoplastic Resins Reinforced by Short Fibers

Experiments were carried out to study the effects of matrix material, reinforcement fibers, impact angle and particle velocity on the solid particle erosion behavior of thermoplastic resins reinforced by short fibers. Special attention was focussed on the incubation period of erosion. Two types of FRPs were used for the erosion experiments. One was the New Thermoplastic Poly-Imide (New-TPI) resin reinforced by short glass or carbon fibers. The other was the Poly Ether Ether Ketone (PEEK) resin reinforced by short glass or carbon fibers. The FRPs with different fiber contents were utilized as the test materials to examine the effect of fiber content. The initial and eroded surfaces of test specimens were observed with a scanning electron microscope and an optical microscope. The results of the experiments show that the incubation period is strongly dependent on the initial surface roughness.