Wear of polymers: an essay on fundamental aspects

This paper reviews some of the recent progress which has been made in the area of the sliding wear of polymers. Wear mechanisms are classified under three broad approaches which reflect primarily the way this subject has been historically studied. It is demonstrated here that the wear of polymers is influenced by the contact conditions, the bulk mechanical properties of the polymer and the properties of the ‘third body’, which generally appears in the form of transfer film or degraded polymer particles between two sliding surfaces. Further, this paper establishes a link between the different contact and material parameters and shows how they are important in elucidating the generic wear mechanisms for polymers. The effects of environment and lubrication upon polymer wear are briefly explained in terms of the chemical interactions between the liquid phase and the polymer. The capabilities and limitations of current predictive wear models for polymeric contacts are also highlighted.

Wear of polymers

Effects of steel counterface roughness and temperature on the friction and wear of PE(E)K composites under dry sliding conditions

Effect of roughness and sliding speed on the wear and friction of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene

Material-specific wear mechanisms : relevance to wear modelling

The wear of low-density polyethylene on steel was studied as a function of the roughness of the steel surface and the sliding speed. The wear rate was found to increase as the speed and roughness increased. The mechanism of wear on surfaces with an Ra roughness of 0.065 μm was shown by SEM photos to be film formation and subsequent film breakup and debris formation. On surfaces with an Ra of 1.16 μm roughness, wear was primarily abrasive as evidenced by large wear particles and minimal film formation. The effect of sliding speed was to accelerate the film formation or abrasive wear rather than alter the wear mechanism. The tendency for film formation was correlated with the surface parameters of skewness and kurtosis. Presented at the 34th Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, April 30–May 3, 1979

Mehmet M. Bayraktaroglu

Papers

The Effect of Surface Roughness on the Wear of Low-Density Polyethylene