Investigation of particle erosion of polytetrafluoroethylene and its composites

Modern-day engineering applications favor polymers and polymer composites on the grounds of their high specific properties. They can offer many different advantages compared to metals; such as high strength-to-weight ratio, ease of production, but their erosion resistance is weaker. In polymer composites, material loss occurs because of high-speed and repeated exposure to erosive particles, therefore service performance and life of the parts are adversely affected. Due to this, it is crucial to predict the particle erosion that may occur in engineering applications and to know the erosive wear behavior of the materials well. Polytetrafluoroethylene and its composites are widely used in tribological applications because of their load-carrying capacity, self-lubricating, and low-density properties, but there is inadequate literature on particle erosion behavior. In this study, particle erosion behaviors of polytetrafluoroethylene, its randomly oriented short glass fiber, and carbon particle and bronze particle-reinforced composites were investigated under different test conditions. Two different types of erosive particles (garnet and alumina) were used to present the effect of erodent type on particle erosion behavior. After particle erosion tests, surface topographies were examined by an optical profilometer, and surface morphologies were examined by scanning electron microscopy. It has been found that the type of reinforcement and the type of erodent significantly affects the particle erosion behavior of polytetrafluoroethylene and its composites.