Tribological behavior of glass fiber reinforced polyamide (PA-GF) and recycled polyvinyl butyral (r-PVB) blends.

• Recycled polyvinyl butyral reduces wear of glass fiber reinforced polyamide. • Recycled polyvinyl butyral reduces friction coefficient of polyamide composites. • Recycled polyvinyl butyral behaves as a solid lubricant in polyamide composites. The current global environmental situation makes plastics' recycling necessary. In this work, the effect that adding recycled polyvinyl butyral (r-PVB) from laminated safety glass on a glass fiber reinforced polyamide (PA-GF) has on its tribological performance is investigated, to envisage potential new applications for r-PVB. PA-GF blends containing 10%, 15%, and 20% of r-PVB were obtained by melt-mixing and injection molding. Pin-on-disc tests were performed with a normal load of 10 N, sliding speed of 0.5 m/s, track diameter of 15 mm, and sliding distance of 500 m. A reduction between 9 and 13% for the coefficient of friction, and of 38–50% for mass loss, was found when r-PVB was added to the matrix, indicating that r-PVB might be acting as a solid lubricant. SEM images showed that r-PVB reduced fiber fracture and promote the formation of a transfer film that reduced the contact between the polymer composite and the steel ball. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]