Tribological Performance of PTFE Bronze Filled Composites under Wide Range of Application Conditions

Abstract

In this study, the friction and wear behavior of pure poly-tetra-fluoro-ethylene (PTFE) and bronze filled PTFE polymer composites at applied load values of 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, 150, and 200N and sliding speed values of 0.32, 0.64, 0.96, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 m/s working conditions were examined. Friction and wear experiments were run at ambient conditions using a pin-on-disc test rig. The results for pure PTFE and bronze filled PTFE composites showed that under light working condition, the friction coefficient decreases with the increase in applied load values, while under severe conditions the materials showed less sensitivity to the change in applied load values. Furthermore, among tested materials the lowest wear rate is for bronze filled PTFE composite. The specific wear rate for pure PTFE and 60% bronze filled PTFE are in the order of 10^-13 and 10^{- 15} m²/N, respectively. For the range of applied load and sliding speeds used in this investigation, the friction coefficient and wear rate showed very little sensitivity to the change in sliding test speed and large sensitivity to the change in applied load values. Finally, the wear mechanism of PTFE and PTFE composites include adhesive and deformation mechanisms.

Keywords

PTFE bronze filled polymer friction wear.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Amuzu, J.K.A. , Briscoe, B.J. and Tabor, D. ( 1978). Polymers as Bearing and Lubricants; Aspects and Fundamental Research: Advances in Tribology, pp. 59-62, Institute of Mechanical Engineering, London.

Wang, Y.Q. and Li, J. ( 1999). Sliding Wear Behavior and Mechanism of Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene, Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 266: 155-160.

Makinson, K.R. and Tabor, D. (1964). The Friction and Transfer of Poly-tetrafluoro-ethylene, Process. R. Soc. Lond. A, 281: 49-61.

Stuart, H.B. ( 1978). The Wear of PTFE Composites, PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.

Bijwe, J. , Neje, S. , Indumathi, J. and Fahim, M. ( 2002). Friction and Wear Performance Evaluation of Carbon Fibre Reinforced PTFE Composite, J. Reinf. Plast. Compos., 21(13): 1221-1240.

Bahadur, S. and Zheng, Y. ( 1990). Mechanical and Tribological Behaviour of Polyester Reinforced with Short Glass Fibers, Wear, 137: 251-266.

Sung, N.H. and Suh, H.P. ( 1979). Effect of Fibre Orientation on Friction and Wear of Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites, Wear, 53: 129-141.

Cirino, M. , Friedric, K. and Pipes, R.B. ( 1988). The Effect of Fiber Orientation on the Abrasive Wear Behavior of Polymer Composite Materials, Wear, 121: 127-141.

Friedrich, K. , Lu, Z. and Mager, A.M. ( 1995). Recent Advances in Polymer Composites, Tribology, 1990: 139-144.

10.

Dinghan, X. , Weicai, L.L. and Zhong, X. u. (2007). On the Tribological Properties of PTFE Filled with Alumina Nanoparticles and Graphite, J. Reinf. Plast. Compos., 20(3): 331-339.

11.

Kukureka, S.N. , Chen, Y.K. , Hooke, C.J. and Liao, P. (1995). The Wear Mechanisms of Acetal in Unlubricated Rolling-sliding Contact, Wear, 185: 1-8.

12.

Yamaguchi, Y. (1990). Tribology of Plastic Materials: Their Characteristics and Applications to Sliding Components, Elsevier, Amsterdam.

13.

Santner, E. and Czichos, H. (1989). Tribology of Polymers, Tribol. Int., 22(2): 103-9.

14.

Brentnall, A.B. and Lancaster, J.K. (1989). Proceedings of the Wear of Materials Congress, ASME, Denver-Colorado, pp. 596-603.

15.

Tevruz, T. ( 1999). Tribological Behaviours of Bronze-filled Polytetrafluoroethylene Dry Journal Bearings, Wear, 230: 61-69.

16.

Tevruz, T. ( 1998). Tribological Behaviours of Carbon-filled Polytetrafluoroethylene Dry Journal Bearings, Wear, 221: 61-68.

17.

Anderson, J.C. (1986). The Wear and Friction of Commercial Polymers and Composites, In: Friedrich, K. (ed.), Friction and Wear and Polymer Composites, Composite Materials Series, Vol. 1, pp. 329-362, Elsevier, Amsterdam.

18.

Unal, H. and Mimaroglu, A. ( 2003). Friction and Wear Behavior of Unfilled Engineering Thermoplastics, Mater. Design, 24: 183-187.

19.

Unal, H. and Mimaroglu, A. ( 2003). Influence of Test Conditions on the Tribological Properties of Polymers, J. Ind. Lubric Tribol., 55(4): 178-183.

20.

Stuart, B.H. (1998). Tribological Studies of Poly(Ether Ether Ketone) Blends, Tribol. Int., 31(11): 647-651.

21.

Suresha, B. (2007). Effect of Normal Load and Sliding Velocity on Friction and Wear Behavior of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composite, J. Reinf. Plast. Compos., 26(16): 1695-1703.

22.

Watanabe, M. (1968). The Friction and Wear Properties of Nylon, Wear, 110: 379-388.

23.

Tanaka, K. ( 1982). Transfer of Semicrystalline Polymers Sliding against Smooth Steel Surface, Wear, 27: 183.

24.

Tanaka, K. , Uchiyama, Y. and Toyoka, S. ( 1973). The Mechanism of Wear of Polytetrafluoroethylene, Wear, 23: 153.

25.

Bahadur, S. and Tabor, D. ( 1985). Role of Fillers in the Friction and Wear Behaviour of High-density Polyethylene, In: Lee, L. H. (ed.), Polymer Wear and its Control, ACS Symposium Series, Vol. 287, Washington DC, pp. 253-268.

26.

Stuart, B.H. (1997). Surface Plasticisation of Poly(Ether Ether Ketone) by Chloroform, Polym., Test, 16: 49-57.