Wear 252 (2002) 668675

Prediction on tribological properties of short bre composites using articial neural networks
Z. Zhang a, , K. Friedrich a , K. Velten b
a

Institute for Composite Materials Ltd. (IVW), University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin Schroedinger Str. 58, D-67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany b Fachhochschule Wiesbaden, Von-Lade-Strasse 1, D-65366 Geisenheim, Germany Received 14 September 2001; accepted 24 January 2002

Abstract Using a multiple-layer feed-forward articial neural network (ANN), the specic wear rate and frictional coefcient have been predicted based on a measured database for short bre reinforced polyamide 4.6 (PA4.6) composites. The results show that the predicted data are well acceptable when comparing them to the real test values. The predictive quality of the ANN can be further improved by enlarging the training datasets and by optimising the network construction. A well-trained ANN is expected to be very helpful for an optimum design of composite materials, for a particular tribological application and for systematic parameter studies. 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Articial neural network; Tribological properties; Short bre reinforced thermoplastics; Parameter prediction; Material design and optimisation

1. Introduction Short bre reinforced thermoplastics (SFRT) can be easily transferred into complex shapes by injection moulding. That is one of the reasons why more and more SFRT are selected as candidate structural materials even though they do not achieve the characteristic mechanical properties obtained by continuous bre reinforcement. To understand the mechanical performance of SFRT, a lot of research has been done in the past decades. This included also the studies about their behaviour under various tribological loading conditions. As a result, SFRT are now being used as sliding elements that were formerly composed of metallic materials only. One of the traditional concepts for improvement of the friction and wear behaviour of polymeric materials is to reduce their adhesion to the counterpart material and to enhance their hardness, stiffness and compressive strength. To reduce the adhesion, internal lubricants such as polytetrauoroethylene (PTFE) and graphite akes are frequently incorporated. Short aramid bres (AF), glass bres (GF) or carbon bres (CF) are used to increase the creep resistance and the compressive strength of the polymer matrix system used. Fig. 1 shows in a systematic way the general principle of how to design high wear resistant polymer composites [1].
Corresponding author. Fax: +49-631-2017196. E-mail address: zhang@ivw.uni-kl.de (Z. Zhang).

Simulation of material properties generally involves the development of a mathematical model derived from experimental data; it is helpful in the materials optimisation, especially for bre reinforced composites. For continuous bre composites, a micromechanical theory has been well accepted in the theoretical analysis, and various phenomena could be simulated by using the nite element method (FEM), even for some very complex situations. For SFRT, however, micromechanics could only be applied in very limited cases, e.g. stiffness prediction for ideal unidirectional SFRT. The lack of good prediction methods, is therefore, also a barrier to a deep mechanistic understanding of SFRT. This is especially true for the complex conditions which exist in tribological test situations. For this reason, the method of articial neural networks (ANN) was recently introduced into the eld of materials science [2]. Another pioneering work in this research eld has been recently performed at IVW [3] on the ANN-modelling and ANN-prediction of the wear volume of short bre composites. To continue these efforts, in this paper, a back-propagation neural network was developed, i.e. a multiple-layer feed-forward network with non-linear differentiable transfer functions. A database, containing various testing details, i.e. material compositions, mechanical properties, measuring conditions and wear characteristics of PA4.6 composites, was used to train and test the neural network. Afterwards, the well-trained neural network was

0043-1648/02/$ see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 4 3 - 1 6 4 8 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 2 3 - 6

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Fig. 1. Schematic presentation how to design the composition of wear resistant polymer composites.

employed to predict the wear properties according to new input data. The quality of the prediction was also evaluated. It turned out that the results of the neural network-based wear prediction looked very viable and promising for material design purposes, systematic parameter studies and the property analysis of the polymer composites tested in this study.

vector Xi and output vector Xj be described as follows: Xj

(n+1)

(n)

(n+1)

of this element can

=F
i

Wji Xi

(n)

(n)

(1)

in which the non-linear sigmoid function F (x) = 1 1 + ex

(n+1) (n)

2. Conguration of articial neural networks Inspired by the biological nerve system, the ANN technology is being used to solve a wide variety of complex scientic, engineering, and business problems. Neural networks are ideally suited for such problems because, like their biological counterparts, they can learn, and therefore can be trained to nd solutions, recognise patterns, classify data, and forecast future events. In contrast to classical approaches in elds such as statistics and control theory, neural networks require no explicit model or limiting assumptions of normality or linearity. Neural networks composed of simple elements operating in parallel are a unique and powerful tool in applications where formal analysis would be extremely difcult or impossible, such as pattern recognition and non-linear system identication and control. As in nature, the network function is determined largely by the connections between the elements, which are mostly non-linear transfer functions in computer simulations. An ANN can be trained to perform a particular function by adjusting the values of the connections (weights) between the elements [4]. Fig. 2a gives a schematic description of an ANN conguration. It can be seen that an ANN is conventionally constructed with three layers, i.e. input, output and hidden layers. Hidden layers can contain one or several (e.g. n) layers for its practical application. Each layer has different numbers of neural elements. As in nature, the network function is largely determined by the connections between these elements. When we focus on one neural element schematically drawn in Fig. 2b, the relationship between the input

where Xj is output of unit j in the nth layer, Wji is a weight from unit i in nth layer to unit j in (n + 1)th layer. An input vector is presented to the units of the input layer. Units in the next layer compute a weighted sum of the inputs, and output the result of a non-linear function to the sum. The learning procedure is based on a gradient search, with a least sum squared optimality criterion of

Fig. 2. (a) Articial neural network conguration. (b) A schematic description of the relationship between the input and output vectors of one neuron.

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errors between the predicted and desired values: E= 1 2

P

(dp op )2
p=1

(2)

3. Test of the trained network: to evaluate the network performance. 4. Using the trained ANN for simulation and prediction. The greatest advantage of an ANN is its ability to model complex non-linear, multi-dimensional function relationships without any prior assumptions about the nature of the relationships, and the network is built directly from experimental data by its self-organising capabilities. However, the limitations of the ANN method are as follows: 1. Training data of the database should have a close relationship with the predicting parameters. 2. Sufcient training data for a complex ANN are necessary. 3. ANN is purely phenomenological and does not inherently produce a mechanistic understanding of the process being modelled. Nevertheless, a well-trained ANN may contribute to the development of a mechanistic understanding of the problem considered. The ANN construction for the present investigation is shown in Fig. 3. Several measuring details, i.e. material compositions, mechanical properties and testing conditions, were selected as input parameters, and wear characteristics such as coefcient of friction and specic wear rate were chosen as output results. A tan-sigmoid transfer function was used between the input and hidden layers as well as within the hidden layers. To avoid limiting the output to a small range, a linear transfer function was employed between the hidden and the output layers. Since the ANN conguration has a great inuence on the predictive quality, various arrangements will be considered in the following sections of this paper. It is necessary to dene a simple code to describe the ANN conguration as

The total sum squared error E is averaged over all patterns in the training set, in which dp is the target output (predicted) for the pth pattern and op is the actual output (measured). In the minimisation process, the weights of all the connecting nodes are adjusted until the desired error level is achieved or the maximum cycle is reached. The error is minimised by changing weights according to the following update equation: Wji
(n)

E Wji
(n)

(3)

in which is the learning rate. Details about the theory and mathematics behind the neural networks can be found additionally in [4]. For materials research, a certain amount of experimental results is necessary to develop a well-performing neural network, including its architecture, training functions, training algorithms and other parameters. After the network has learned to solve the problems, new data from the same knowledge domain can then be put into the trained neural network, in order to output realistic solutions. The process of creating an ANN for materials research can, therefore, be summarised in the following stages: 1. Database collection: analysis and pre-processing of the data. 2. Training of the neural network: this includes the choice of its architecture, training functions, training algorithms and parameters of the network.

Fig. 3. Input data, output data and schematic construction of an articial neural network for correlating tribological properties with testing and material parameters.

Z. Zhang et al. / Wear 252 (2002) 668675 Table 1 An overview of input data used for calculating specic wear rate and coefcient of friction by an articial neural network approach Input Material compositions Matrix volume (70100%) Fibre volume (030%) PTFE volume (010%) Compression modulus Compression strength Hardness Fracture toughness Temperatures (20150 C) Normal force (530 N) Wear speed (0.020.2 m/s) Specic wear rate/wear volume Frictional coefcient

671

Mechanical properties

Measuring conditions

data used for the ANN approach. The database contained: (a) the material composition (volume fraction of the matrix, the short glass bres, the pitch based carbon bres, the PAN carbon bres, and the PTFE and graphite llers), (b) mechanical properties of the composites studied (compression modulus and strength, impact strength, etc., all tested at different temperatures), and (c) testing conditions (temperature, normal force and sliding speed) as the input parameters, and wear characteristics such as wear volume, specic wear rate or frictional coefcient were the output data. 4. ANN prediction: evaluation and optimization To obtain optimised neural network constructions, a given dataset is divided into a training and test dataset. The training dataset is used to adjust the weights of all the connecting nodes until the desired error level is reached. Then the network performance is evaluated on the test dataset, using the coefcient of determination B as a quality measure:
M

Output Wear characteristics

follows: Nin [Nh1 Nh2 Nh3 ]e Nout where Nin and Nout are the element numbers of input and output parameters, respectively, and e is the number of hidden layers. Nh1 , Nh2 and Nh3 are numbers of neurons in each hidden layer, respectively. For example, 13 [25]1 2 means a one hidden layer ANN with 13 input and 2 output parameters, and the hidden layer contains 25 elements (neurons); 9 [15 10 5]3 1 denotes a three hidden layer ANN with 9 input and 1 output, and 15, 10, 5 neurons, respectively in each hidden layer.

[O(p (i) ) O (i) ]2

M i=1

B =1

i=1

(4) (O (i) O)2

3. Structure of database A total dataset of 103 independent wear measurements coming from fretting tests (duration 8 h, further details, see [5,6]) with various material compositions at different wear measuring conditions was used to train and test the neural network. Table 1 gives an overview of input and output

where O(p(i) ) is the ith predicted wear characteristic, O(i ) the ith measured value, O the mean value of O(i ) , and M is the number of test data. The coefcient B describes the t of the ANNs output variable approximation curve with the actual test data output variable curve. Higher B coefcients indicate an ANN with better output approximation capabilities. In our case, 88 datasets were randomly selected from the database as training sets, and the other 15 were used to test the ANN. Fig. 4a and b shows a comparison of the measured and predicted specic wear rate when using the training dataset (B = 0.99982) and the test dataset (B = 0.8759). From Fig. 4b, it can be seen that the absolute

Fig. 4. Comparison of the coefcient of determination B of the measured and predicted specic wear rate between the training and test dataset.

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calculating errors to the measuring results are in the range of 20% when B = 0.8759, which is in the similar lever of the wear measurements of bre composites. Therefore, when B 0.9 of test dataset, the prediction could be considered in an acceptable quality. The process of prediction was repeated 50 times independently under a random selection of test dataset. Afterwards, the distribution of B was drawn in vertical bar charts for evaluating the predictive quality in following discussions. 4.1. Inuence of learning rules There are many variations of the back-propagation algorithm due to different ways of the gradient descent algorithm. Based on the MATLAB 5.3 with the Neural Network Toolbox [4], the following training algorithms were investigated in our program [3]. 1. Bayesian regularisation (BR): Modication of the LevenbergMarquardt training algorithm to produce networks that generalises well. Reduces the difculty of determining the optimum network architecture. 2. PowellBeale conjugate gradient algorithm (CGB): Slightly larger storage requirements than Polak Ribire conjugate gradient algorithm. Generally, faster convergence. 3. BFGS quasi-Newton method (BFG): Requires storage of approximate Hessian matrix and has more computation in each iteration than the conjugate gradient algorithm, but usually converges in fewer iterations. 4. Adaptive learning rate (GDX): Faster training than basic gradient descent, but can only be used in batch mode training. 5. LevenbergMarquardt algorithm (LM): Fastest training algorithm for networks of moderate size. Has a memory reduction feature for use when the training set is large. Fig. 5 gives a bar chart for comparing the inuence of these training algorithms on their prediction qualities. The ANN conguration used here is of the form 9 [25]1 1,

i.e. it possesses six material compositions and three measuring conditions as the input, and the specic wear rate as the output. The x-coordinate of Fig. 5 refers to the B-value distribution from the range <0.6 to that between 0.9 and 1.0. The y-coordinate represents the percentage of how many B-values falling in this range in a 50 times randomly selection of test dataset. It is clear that the higher the bar chart in the range of 0.91.0 is, the better is the predictive quality. It can be seen that both the BR and CGB algorithm posses a high predictive quality, i.e. nearly 40% of B are found in the range of 0.91.0 at the related ANN conguration. Moreover, the BR is a more ideal algorithm, which is desirable to determine the optimal regularisation parameters in an automated fashion. However, this advantage is combined with a slow computing speed. CGB is on the other hand, a fast and high training quality algorithm for our problem. Both algorithms were therefore considered in the further work of this paper. 4.2. Inuence of ANN structure As we know, not only the training algorithm, but also the conguration has a strong inuence on the ANN predictive quality. Based on the CGB algorithm, various ANN congurations were analysed and the results are compared in the bar chart of Fig. 6. The 9 [15 10 5]3 1 exhibits an excellent result of 66% of the B coefcient in the range of 0.91.0. However, from the complexity of the conguration, it also becomes clear that the wear performance of short bre composites has a very complex relationship with the input parameters chosen. Another expectation is also interesting to be mentioned. A very simple ANN conguration has been employed to predict the abrasive wear perform of TiN/NbN multi-layers by Hutchings group at the University of Cambridge [7]. An 8 [3]1 1 ANN was chosen for predicting the wear resistance and an 8 [6]1 1 ANN for the hardness, based on an initial database of 42 coating systems. Details about the

Fig. 5. Fraction of the test datasets as a function of coefcient of determination B using various training algorithms. The more datasets full a B-value of 0.91.0, the more data can be perfectly predicted by the trained network.

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Fig. 6. Fraction of the test datasets as a function of coefcient of determination B using different neural network congurations.

evaluation method were not given in their publication. We also tried to use such a simple conguration, 9 [4]1 1 in our case, based on the CGB algorithm, and evaluated the quality as we mentioned before. In fact, this conguration sometimes gave good output results with a high predictive quality, i.e. about 40% of the B-values were in the range of 0.91.0. However, the results were not stable, which means when repeating the 50 times random selection of test datasets once more, the quality could be even very poor. This is, on the other hand, not true for the three hidden layers ANN conguration in Fig. 6, in which the B distributions are very stable and of a high predictive quality. The reason for the unstable quality of the simple ANN conguration is not clear, but one should always consider that ANN is inspired by our biological neural system. In human beings, someone can learn very fast and catch the right solution even only if a little information is available. Nevertheless, this simple neural network conguration offers a possibility with quite fast computing speed and relative small training dataset, which will be certainly useful for the prediction of online monitoring of more simple relationships in some practical applications.

Fig. 8. Dependence of the percentage of test dataset B-value in the range of 0.91.0 on the number of training dataset. The dot line is a tted curve, which estimates a perfect predictive quality when the number reaches at about 150.

Fig. 7. Fraction of the test datasets as a function of coefcient of determination B with decreasing number of training data.

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Fig. 9. Specic wear rate of a polyamide 4.6 (PA4.6) composite as a function of PTFE (vol.%) and CF/pitch (vol.%). The experimental data points and their scatters are given by the bullets with error bars, whereas the rest of the three-dimensional plane was calculated by an articial neural network approach.

Fig. 10. Frictional coefcient of a polyamide 4.6 (PA4.6) composite as a function of PTFE (vol.%) and CF/pitch (vol.%). The experimental data points and their scatters are given by the bullets with error bars, whereas the rest of the three-dimensional plane was calculated by an articial neural network approach.

4.3. Number of training data The number of training data denitely inuences the predictive quality. In Fig. 7, when the number of training data was reduced from 88 to 43 using the same training algorithm of CGB and the same ANN conguration of 9 [15 10 5]3 1, the prediction qualities were signicantly decreased. The dependence is drawn in Fig. 8 for the percentage of test dataset B-value in the range of 0.91.0 as a function of the number of training data. The results were tted by the dashed line, and it is expected that, when the training data reaches the number of 150, most of the test data B-values will fall in the range of 0.91.0.

Fig. 11. Results of a parameter study by the use of the neural network concept: specic wear rate as a function of normal load and sliding speed for various material compositions.

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5. Parameter studies The quality of prediction was clearly improved when compared to our previous publication [3]. In that case, the information about the material compositions was not yet used as a part of the input data. In addition, the increase of the number of datasets, 103 instead of 72 [3], also contributed to this improvement. A look at the current situation shows that the prediction results exhibit an excellent match to the real measuring data. Figs. 9 and 10 exhibit as threedimensional planes the prediction results of the specic wear rate and frictional coefcient as a function of PTFE (vol.%) and CF/pitch (vol.%), when using six material compositions and three measuring conditions as input parameters. Compared to the real test results (bullets with error bars in Figs. 9 and 10), the prediction results are very well acceptable. Once, a well-trained ANN has been obtained, new data can be predicted without performing too many, long lasting experiments. In addition, an animate software has been developed for performing parameter studies, which allow the visual monitoring on how some material parameters and testing conditions inuence the wear properties of the composites under investigation (Fig. 11). The major advantage of neural networks is their possibility to predict dependencies between many parameters, and to apply them to any given situation in a black box fashion.

allows studying the importance of various parameters on the tribological behaviour of the system, which will be helpful to understand the relation between tribological properties and material parameters in bre composites. It can be seen that the ANN is a helpful mathematical tool in material design, parameters studies and property analysis of polymer composites, being directly based on a limited number of measurement results.

Acknowledgements This project was sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Sofja Kovalevskaja Award program, nanced by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the German Governments ZIP program of investment in the future, and jointly supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG FR 675/31-1 and DFG HU 791/2-1). Thanks to Dr. R. Reinicke, SKF GmbH, Pttlingen, Germany, for the database in his PhD work at IVW. References
[1] K. Friedrich, R. Reinicke, Z. Zhang, Wear of polymer composites, in: G.W. Stachowiak (Ed.), Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part J, Professional Engineering Publishing Ltd. J. Eng. Tribol., 2002, in press. [2] S.P. Jones, R. Jansen, R.L. Fusaro, Preliminary investigation of neural network techniques to predict tribological properties, Tribol. Trans. 40 (2) (1997) 312320. [3] K. Velten, R. Reinicke, K. Friedrich, Wear volume prediction with articial neural networks, Tribol. Int. 33 (2000) 731736. [4] H. Demuth, M. Beale, Neural Network Toolbox Users GuideFor Use with MATLAB, Version 4.0, The MathWorks, Inc., 2000. [5] R. Reinicke, F. Haupert, K. Friedrich, On the tribological behavior of selected, injection molded thermoplastic, Composites: Part A 29 (1998) 763771. [6] R. Reinicke, Eigenschaftsprol neuer Verbundwerkstoffe fr tribologische Anwendungen im Automobilbereich, Ph.D. dissertation, in: M. Neitzel (Ed.), IVW Schriftenreihe Bd. 21, Institut fr Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH (IVW), Kaiserslautern, Germany, 2001 (ISBN 3-934930-17-4). [7] K.L. Rutherford, P.W. Hatto, C. Davies, I.M. Hutchings, Abrasive wear resistance of TiN/NbN multi-layers: measurement and neural network modelling, Surf. Coat. Technol. 86/87 (1996) 472479.

6. Conclusions Wear characteristics of bre composites were predicted by using an ANN approach. The predictive quality of the ANN increased when enlarging the datasets, employing material compositions as input data, and optimising the ANN conguration. Using material compositions as the main input data, as well as wear testing conditions, the well-trained ANN is expected to be very helpful and powerful for the design of composite materials. When using the mechanical/physical properties as input to train the ANN, the weights of input can be analysed. The larger the weights of the input data are, the stronger is the inuence of the latter on the output data. This