Experimental-FEM Study on Effect of Tribological Load Conditions on Wear Resistance of Three-Component High-Strength Solid-Lubricant PI-Based Composites

Sergey V Panin; Jiangkun Luo; Dmitry G Buslovich; Vladislav O Alexenko; Lyudmila A Kornienko; Svetlana A Bochkareva; Anton V Byakov

doi:10.3390/polym13162837

Experimental-FEM Study on Effect of Tribological Load Conditions on Wear Resistance of Three-Component High-Strength Solid-Lubricant PI-Based Composites

Polymers (Basel). 2021 Aug 23;13(16):2837. doi: 10.3390/polym13162837.

Authors

Sergey V Panin^{1

2}, Jiangkun Luo², Dmitry G Buslovich¹, Vladislav O Alexenko¹, Lyudmila A Kornienko¹, Svetlana A Bochkareva¹, Anton V Byakov¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Mechanics of Polymer Composite Materials, Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 634055 Tomsk, Russia.
² Department of Materials Science, Engineering School of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, 634050 Tomsk, Russia.

Abstract

The structure, mechanical and tribological properties of the polyimide-based composites reinforced with chopped carbon fibers (CCF) and loaded with solid-lubricant commercially available fillers of various natures were investigated. The metal- and ceramic counterparts were employed for tribological testing. Micron sized powders of PTFE, colloidal graphite and molybdenum disulfide were used for solid lubrication. It was shown that elastic modulus was enhanced by up to 2.5 times, while ultimate tensile strength was increased by up 1.5 times. The scheme and tribological loading conditions exerted the great effect on wear resistance of the composites. In the tribological tests by the 'pin-on-disk' scheme, wear rate decreased down to ~290 times for the metal-polymer tribological contact and to ~285 times for the ceramic-polymer one (compared to those for neat PI). In the tribological tests against the rougher counterpart (R_a~0.2 μm, the 'block-on-ring' scheme) three-component composites with both graphite and MoS₂ exhibited high wear resistance. Under the "block-on-ring" scheme, the possibility of the transfer film formation was minimized, since the large-area counterpart slid against the 'non-renewable' surface of the polymer composite (at a 'shortage' of solid lubricant particles). On the other hand, graphite and MoS₂ particles served as reinforcing inclusions. Finally, numerical simulation of the tribological test according to the 'block-on-ring' scheme was carried out. Within the framework of the implemented model, the counterpart roughness level exerted the significantly greater effect on wear rate in contrast to the porosity.

Keywords: carbon fiber; elastic modulus; graphite; molybdenum disulfide; polyimide; polytetrafluoroethylene; porosity; roughness; solid lubricant; wear resistance.