Study on water resistance and tribological behaviours of basalt fibre/acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber composites under water lubrication at various temperatures

In this study, the effects of water ageing on characteristics and properties of basalt fibre (BF)/acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) composites were investigated, and the tribological behaviours of the composites that slide against the stainless-steel counterpart under water lubrication at 30–70 °C were the main focus. Results showed that with the water temperature increase, the hardness and tear strength of the water-aged samples decreased. Furthermore, both the friction coefficient (COF) and specific wear rate (W(s)) of the composites increased with the temperature. The content and the orientation of BFs had no obvious effect on the COF, whereas the parallel-aligned BFs were effective at improving the wear resistance of the composites at both 30 °C and 70 °C.