Abstract
The friction and wear behavior of coated rubber components is strongly dependent on the substrate properties. This work deals with the impact of the crosslink density, i.e., the hardness of the rubber substrate on the tribological performance of uncoated and coated rubber. The hardness of nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) is varied altering the sulfur content. Both the uncoated and coated rubber samples are characterized in terms of surface and mechanical properties. Tribological tests comprise the examination of the macroscopic contact area and the temperature in the contact zone. It was found that the functional layer enhances the wear resistance significantly. Apparently, the wear and friction behavior of the coated rubber correlates with the hardness and the bulk properties of the substrate material.
Highlights
Rubber seals became a key element in many technical applications, e.g., in the automotive and aviation industry [1]
A major gap has been found in the existing literature regarding DLC coated rubber: There have been no studies about the effect of the substrate properties on the friction and wear behavior of DLC
We present DLC coating deposited on the same rubber type with coated rubber
Summary
Rubber seals became a key element in many technical applications, e.g., in the automotive and aviation industry [1]. For NBR material, the coefficient of friction (CoF) could be reduced from μ = 1.6 to 0.7 (bearing steel, Ø 8 mm, 0.5 N) [5]. Pei et al reduced the CoF of NBR from μ = 1 to 0.25 by employing an expanding thermal plasma-based deposition. Their investigation showed that a high arc current leads to high coating hardness, smaller patch sizes and better adhesion [11]. The authors postulate a high coefficient of friction for the more rigid substrate [23] It should be emphasized, that the mentioned papers compare different rubber types, which may have an impact on the frictional behavior. We demonstrate the importance of the bulk properties for the tribological performance and the wear behavior of the DLC layer
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