Effect of duration of rubbing and normal load on friction coefficient for polymer and composite materials

Abstract

PurposeThe present paper seeks to report the effect of duration of rubbing on friction coefficient for different polymer and composite materials. Variations of friction coefficient and wear rate with the normal load are also investigated experimentally when stainless steel (SS 304) pin slides on different types of materials such as cloth‐reinforced ebonite (commercially known as gear fiber), glass fiber‐reinforced plastic (glass fiber), nylon and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).Design/methodology/approachA pin on disc apparatus is designed and fabricated. During experiment, the rpm of test samples was kept constant and relative humidity was 70 percent.FindingsStudies have shown that the values of friction coefficient depend on applied load and duration of rubbing. It is observed that the values of friction coefficient decrease with the increase of normal load for glass fiber, nylon and PTFE. Different trend is observed for gear fiber, i.e. coefficient of friction increases with the increase of normal load. It is also found that wear rate increases with the increase of normal load for all the materials. The magnitudes of friction coefficient and wear rate are different for different materials.Practical implicationsIt is expected that the applications of these results will contribute to the design of different mechanical components of these materials.Originality/valueWithin the observed range of applied normal load, the relative friction coefficient and wear rate of gear fiber, glass fiber, nylon and PTFE are experimentally investigated.