MAE 493N/593T
Dr. Konstantinos A. Sierros
West Virginia University
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
ESB Annex 263
kostas.sierros@mail.wvu.edu
Project list
Teams: Names & Members
Project title
Project list – MAE 493N/593T – Tribology in Mechanical Engineering – Fall 2010 – K. Sierros
Post‐Si era MEMS/NEMS tribological materials
Design and development of a tribometer for bridging the gap between single asperity contact (i.e. atomic
force microscope) and multi‐asperity contact (i.e. microtribometer)
Design and development of contact lenses
Design and development of artificial hip‐joints
Design of a method for in‐situ monitoring of contact conditions between polymer surfaces
Surface texturing of metal surfaces for friction control
Nanoindentation and nanoscratching of diamond‐like coatings (DLC)
Frictional behaviour of low‐friction engine coatings in traditional and new alternative fuels
Behaviour of tribosurfaces used in hydrogen‐based energy systems under high hydrogen pressure
Thermal and tribological investigation of hot spots formed during high energy breaking
Tribo‐chemistry of seal elastomers: friction induced changes to surface properties
Wear and friction of polymer gears
Assessing fatigue wear of aerospace materials
Development of vegetable oil based bio‐degradable lubricants
Effect of lubricants on rolling contact fatigue of silicon nitride
Mechanisms and models of friction
Wear mechanisms of tires under service conditions
Challenges of tribological testing at small scales
Controlling surface friction using polymer monolayers
Friction and wear of diamond surfaces in humid environments
Tribological interaction between biomaterials and cells within the human body
Wear and friction behavior of oriented carbon nanotube films
Up‐to‐date
Project teams Project Title
P. Mcelfresh
A. Paletta Vegetable oil lubricants
Kessman
S. Cronin Post‐Si MEMS materials
D. Bowman
C. Brant
D. Loud
A. Thomas Contact lenses
E. DeFusco
T. Sissai
A. Johnson
N. Morris
D. Banerjee Nanoscratch/Nanoindentation of DLC coatings
T. Berry
D. McGrain
J. Daniels
Grad student? Contact lenses
J. Wong
W. Vogel
B. Lilly Wear and friction of polymer gears
Friction of polymers
• Surface phenomena and structure of polymers
• Adhesion of polymers to other solid surfaces (chemisorption)
• Various polymer crystallinities and morphologies
• Mobility of molecular chains
• Effect of load, sliding velocity and temperature on friction
This lecture’s notes are from: Polymer tribology, Edited by S.J. Sinha, B. J. Briscoe
Imperial College Press, 2009
Effect of load
Effect of sliding velocity
Effect of temperature
Polymer composites
• Application of fillers to polymer matrices can improve the tribological behaviour
of the composite system
• For example PTFE, graphite, molybdenum disulphide (solid lubricants) added to
polymers can aid the formation of transfer films on the counterface and decrease μ
Polymer transfer films
• When polymers slide against metallic counterfaces, transfer films deposited on
the counterface
• The transfer films consist of polymeric material that is removed from the bulk
Polymer composites
Using CNTs as fillers
Lower μ
Wang et al, Journal of Macromolecular Science: Part D ‐ Reviews in Polymer Technology 48 (2009) 821
Polymer composites
Pin‐on‐disc configuration
Steel disc
Pin – composite specimen
Polymer blends
• PET improves tribological behaviour
• PP offers processing advantages, high tensile strength at elevated temperatures
Mesoscale testing
• Mesoscale testing requires accurate motion at low speeds
• Maximum velocity of 50 mm/s
• Load range: 0‐1 N (100 g)
• In‐situ coefficient of friction monitoring (monitoring transitions)
Small‐scale testing
• Apparent contact area 1‐100 mm2
• More than 400 world‐wide test methods for small‐scale testing
Large‐scale testing
• Apparent contact area 104‐105 mm2
• Using large‐scale specimens aid towards reducing the effect of stress
concentrations near the sample edges
• Sliding instabilities which are hidden in small scales show more frequently in
large‐scale testing
• Large‐scale tests are closer to actual working conditions
Normal loading up
to 6000 kN
Polymer samples
150x150x20 mm3
Counterface steel
410x200x20 mm3
Meso‐scale to small‐scale correlation
pv value is contact pressure p x sliding velocity v, solid lubricant is PTFE
Meso‐scale tests are performed with flat‐on flat geometry at 1.15 N (0.0018 MPa),
3.30 N (0.0052 MPa), 5.16 N (0.0086 MPa) and 0.12, 0.5, 2.0, 8.0 m/s. Small‐scale tests
are perfomed with cylinder‐on‐plate geometry at 50 N, 100 N, 150 N, 200 N and 0.3
m/s.
Scratch testing of polymer surfaces
Rigid tip on PMMA
pm – average contact pressure
pm = Fn/a
σY ‐ Yield stress
a – true contact area
R – radius of tip
Indentation of polymers
Berkovich tip
3‐sided pyramid
a = 65.03o
• In general, as load increases displacement increases due to both elastic and plastic
deformation of testing material
• When holding the load, viscoelastic (time‐dependent) effects are observed
• Elastic recovery is observed during unloading part
Multidirectional vs unidirectional sliding
http://bmcortho.com/abou
t/education.stryker_brochu
res.english.mis_hip.2.php
• Friction induced molecular orientation in the unidirectional sliding of UHMWPE
• This is not the case during multidirectional sliding
• UHMWPE is used in artificial joint prosthetics
Polymer on polymer bearing sliding for MEMS
PDMS friction
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Elastomers
• PDMS A has lower initial molecular weight than PBMS B
•Black lines are free and pendant chains emerging from the PDMS surface
• PDMS B – Chains can be oriented and can reduce macroscopic friction coefficient
• PDMS A – Chains are short and are sticking to AFM tip, increasing the friction
coefficient
Summary
• Polymer friction: Effect of load, velocity, temperature
• Polymer composites
• Testing
• Polymer materials for specific applications