Post-curing effect on tribological properties of MWCNTs-B ₄ C and Graphene-B ₄ C polymer epoxy composites

The tribological characteristic of polymer matrix composites is profoundly affected by microstructural alterations that occur during the curing and post-curing phases. This study investigates effect of post-curing on the wear resistance and frictional characteristics of epoxy composites reinforced with MWCNTs-B 4 C and graphene- B 4 C. Wear testing was performed under two distinct load conditions, with the results being analyzed, wear rate, and wear depth over time. Introduction of hybrid nanofillers provides a synergistic reinforcement effect, whereas post-curing promotes the interaction between the matrix and filler, as well as increases the crosslinking density that leads to good tribological properties. Furthermore, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was employed to analyze the wear-tested composite samples. The results shown that composites without post-curing exhibit high wear due to weak crosslinking and poor filler–matrix interaction. The wear improves slightly by doing post-curing at 80°C which hardens the matrix. However, the best improvement is realized in 100°C post-curing whereby all the composites with MWCNTs + B 4 C as reinforcements show considerable improvements on wear rate and weight loss.