Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Since abrasion is a common cause of seal failures, understanding the mechanisms of abrasion of an elastomer in the presence of lubricants is of importance in sealing applications. In this research a block on ring configuration was used to study the influence of lubrication on the two body abrasion of several commonly used sealing elastomers (two acrylonitrile butadiene rubbers, an acrylic rubber and a fluoro rubber). The friction force and the abrasive wear of the samples were measured and the worn surfaces and wear particles were investigated using an optical microscope. The tear strength of the elastomers before and after immersion in monoester oil as well as the oil absorption has been measured. Both scratches (parallel to the direction of sliding) and ridges (perpendicular to the direction of sliding) were observed on the worn surfaces of nitrile rubbers but the surfaces of acrylic and fluoro rubber were characterised by scratches only. The worn surfaces of nitrile rubbers were defined with more continuous ridges at lower sliding velocity and the presence of a lubricant in the contact reduced the continuous ridges. Examination of the wear particles shows that the wear particles (particularly for acrylic rubber) under dry sliding condition were aggregated, but the lubricant dispersed the wear particles and prevented aggregation. In most cases, abrasive wear of the elastomers under lubricated condition is higher than that under dry condition. The results show that the friction coefficient increased with increasing sliding velocity and decreased with contact pressure. Apart from the fluoro rubber, the friction coefficient as well as the tear strength of the elastomers decreased significantly in the presence of lubricant, particularly for acrylic rubber.

Keywords

ABRASIVE WEAR ELASTOMER LUBRICATION

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Stolarski

T. A.

: ‘Tribology in machine design’ 2000, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann.

in ‘ASM handbook’, Vol. 18, ‘Friction, lubrication, and wear technology’; 1992, Materials Park, OH, American Society for Metals, 184–190.

http://www.offshoreseals.com/failureanalysis.htm (access on 4 September 2008).

Moore

D. F.

: ‘The friction and lubrication of elastomers’, 1st edn; 1972, New York, Pergamon Press.

Ludema

K. C.

: Phys. Teehnol., 1975, 6, 11–17.

Moore

D. F.

: Wear, 1972, 22, 113–141.

Moore

D. F.

: Wear, 1974, 30, 1–34.

Mofidi

, Prakash

, Persson

B. N. J.

and Albohr:

J. Phys. Condens. Matt., 2008, 20, 085223.

Persson

B. N. J.

: Surf Sci., 1998, 401, 445–454.

10.

Persson

B. N. J.

and Volokitin:

A. I.

Eur. Phys. J. E, 2006, 21E, (1), 69–80.

11.

Fuller

K. N. G.

and Tabor:

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A, 1975, 345A, 327–342

12.

Greenwood

J. A.

and Tabor:

Proc. Phys. Soc., 1958, 71, 989–1001.

13.

Johnson

K. L.

, Kendall

and Roberts:

A. D.

Proc. R Soc. Lond A, 1971, 324A, 301–313

14.

Persson

B. N. J.

, Albohr

, Tartaglino

, Volokitin

A. I.

and Tosatti:

J. Phys. Condes. Matt., 2005, 17, R1—R62.

15.

Persson

B. N. J.

, Tartaglino

, Albohr

and Tosatti:

Nature Mater., 2004, 3, 882— 885.

16.

James

D. I.

and Jolley

M. E.

: ‘Abrasion of rubber’; 1967, London, MacLaren & Sons Ltd.

17.

Pulford

C. T. R.

: J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 1983, 28, 709–713.

18.

Schallamach

: J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 1968, 12, 281–293.

19.

Schallamach

: Wear, 1958, 1, 384–417.

20.

Thavamani

, Khastgir

and Bhowmick:

A. K.

J. Mater. Sci., 1993, 28, 6318–6322.

21.

Schallamach

: J. Polym. Sci., 1952, 9, 385–404.

22.

Brisco

B. J.

and Sinha:

S. K.

Proc. IMechE J, 2002, 216J, 401–413.

23.

Southern

and Thomas:

A. G.

Rubber Chem. TechnoL, 1979, 52, 1008–1018.

24.

Gent

A. N.

and R. C. T. Pulford: J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 1983, 28, 943–960.

25.

Uchiyama

and Ishino:

Wear, 1992, 158, 141–155.

26.

Zhang

S.W.

: Rubber Chem. Technot, 1984, 57, 769–778.

27.

Zhang

S. W.

: Rubber Chem. Technol., 1984, 57, 755–768.

28.

Zhang

S. W.

and Yang:

Tribot Int., 1997, 30, 839–843.

29.

Iwai

, Uchiyama

, Shimosaka

and Takase:

Wear, 2005, 259, 669–675.

30.

Fukahori

and Yamazaki:

Wear, 1994, 171, 195–202.

31.

Fukahori

and Yamazaki:

Wear, 1994, 178, 109–116.

32.

Fukahori

and Yamazaki:

Wear, 1995, 187, 19–26.

33.

Fukahori

, Liang

and C. J. J. Busfield: Wear, 2008, 265, 387–395.

34.

Liang

, Fukahori

, Thomas

A. G.

and C. J. J. Busfield: Wear, 2009, 266, 288–296.

35.

Muhr

A. H.

, Pond

T. J.

and Thomas:

A. G.

J. Chim. Phys., 1987, 84, 331–334.

36.

Muhr

A. H.

and Roberts:

A. D.

Wear, 1992, 158, 213–228.

37.

Chandrasekaran

and Batchelor:

A. W.

Wear, 1997, 211, 35–43.

38.

Torbake

and Johansson:

J. Synth. Lubr., 2005, 22, 123–142.

39.

Patil

A. O.

and Coolbaugh:

T. S.

Rubber Chem. Technot, 2005, 78, 516–535.

40.

Stachowiak

G. W.

and Batchelor:

A. W.

‘Engineering tribology’, 2nd edn; 2001, Boston, MA, Butterworth-Heinemann.

41.

Mofidi

, Kassfeldt

and Prakash:

Tribot Int., 2008, 41,860–866.

42.

Evans

D. C.

: in ‘Wear of non-metallic materials’, 47–71; 1978, London, MEP.

43.

Omar

M. K.

, Atkins

A. G.

and Lancaster:

J. K.

J. Phys. D, 1986, 19D, 177— 195.

44.

Hofmann

: ‘Rubber technology handbook’; 1989, Munich, Hanser Publishers.

45.

Mofidi

and Prakash

: Proc. 13th Nordic Symp. on ‘Tribology’, NT2008-115-20, Tampere, Finland, June 2008, Tampere University of Technology.

46.

Persson

B. N. J.

, Albohr

, Heinrich

and Ueba:

J. Phys. Condens. Matt., 2005, 17, R1071—R1142.

Two body abrasive wear and frictional characteristics of sealing elastomers under unidirectional lubricated sliding conditions

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References