An equation for the abrasive wear of elastomeric O-ring materials

Abstract

An empirical equation was obtained via dimensional analysis, which relates the abrasive wear volume to the friction force, specimen load, sliding distance and specimen breaking strength for O-ring materials. Wear experiments on O-rings molded from four nitrile compounds and one polyurethane material were conducted on a special pin-disc-type testing machine. Specimens cut from a size 330 O-ring were held against a roughened rotating steel wear cylinder with a load which varied from 5 to 15 lbf. Both the specimen and the wear cylinder were immersed in an abrasive mud of the type used for oil well drilling. The sliding velocity was held constant at 11 in s −1. The wear resistance of the polyurethane was two times better than the best nitrile compound.