# Tribological Response of Basalt/Carbon Hybrid Laminated Composites After Water-Immersion Aging: Influence of Stacking Sequence Under Reciprocating Wear

## TL;DR

This study examines how water aging and sliding wear affect the performance of hybrid basalt-carbon composites, showing that their structure significantly influences durability.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel methodology linking hygrothermal effects to tribological behavior in hybrid laminates.

## Key findings

- Basalt-rich laminates absorbed more water and showed greater wear damage compared to carbon-rich ones.
- Stacking sequence explained over 70% of the variance in wear width, highlighting its critical role.
- Increasing sliding frequency reduced wear depth in aged basalt laminates.

## Abstract

This study investigates the tribological response of basalt, carbon, and basalt–carbon hybrid laminates subjected to pressurized water-immersion aging and reciprocating sliding, with emphasis on the role of stacking sequence. Composite plates with B8, C8, B2C4B2, and C2B4C2 architectures were aged in deionized water at 10 bar for up to 30 days, then tested against a 100Cr6 steel ball at 30 N, 50 m track and 1 or 2 Hz. Water uptake ranged from approximately 4.3% for B8 to 1.2–2.7% for carbon-rich and hybrid laminates, and induced a depression and broadening of the epoxy glass-transition region that was most severe in basalt-skinned systems. At 1 Hz and 30-day aging, B8 exhibited the most severe damage, with wear-scar widths and depths approaching 3.0 mm and 0.50 mm, whereas C8 retained narrow shallow scars below 0.8 mm and 0.02 mm and COF values below 0.20. Increasing frequency to 2 Hz mitigated wear, reducing B8 depth to approximately 0.30 mm under similar conditions. Factorial analysis attributed more than 70% of the variance in wear width to laminate architecture. The combined pressurized immersion, multi-frequency reciprocating wear and DSC, profilometry, and SEM methodology provides an original framework to link hygrothermal plasticization to architecture-dependent tribological durability in hybrid basalt–carbon laminates.