Effect of the vibration on friction and wear behavior between the carbon strip and copper contact wire pair

Abstract

This article reports an experimental study on the friction and wear behavior of carbon strip sliding against copper contact wire under strong electric current utilizing a high-speed block-on-ring tester. The dynamic mechanism of electric arc generation was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe morphology of worn surfaces of the carbon strips. The results show that arc discharge has a certain correlation with low-frequency vibration of the carbon strip. The arc discharge frequency and the average single arc discharge energy initially decrease and then tend to stable with increasing normal load at different speeds. The wear rate increases first and then decreases and has the minimum when the load is equal to 100 N especially. Moreover, the wear rate steadily increases with increase in arc discharge energy and is almost directly proportional to arc discharge energy. Arc erosion was a dominant wear mechanism occurred in carbon strip sliding against copper contact wire at a low load, accompanying with adhesive wear and material transferring. However, mechanical wear was a main wear mechanism at a high load. Severe arc erosion weakened the conductivity of the carbon strip.