(Invited) Friction Processing and Application to High Strength Hydrogel Surface

Abstract

In the medical field and food manufacturing process, labor costs and manufacturing costs are reduced, delivery times are shortened, and production is streamlined in all aspects. In particular, the slider part uses many consumables that have a negative effect on the human body and the environment. In this research, we aim at the low friction surface of the functional gel that realizes human safety and cost reduction by replacing a part of the functional gel with the functional gel. This technique involves laser cutting the gel, and the method of creating the sliding and gel surfaces comes from the method of creating a low friction surface by texturing. The textured surface swells uniformly and the coefficient of kinetic friction was measured by the ball-on-disk friction test.The friction force was measured and the coefficient of friction of the untreated and laser treated DN gel surface was calculated. The results show that laser machining (finishing) can reduce the coefficient of friction. Observation of the gel surface suggests that the cause of friction reduction is a change in the roughness of the gel surface due to laser processing. This finding is expected to guide us to a better understanding of the physicochemical properties of hydrogels. We will introduce an example of using this technology as a machine element.The dynamic friction coefficient of the low friction gel surface prepared by this method was about 1/3 of that of the untreated gel surface. It was also confirmed that wear marks disappeared depending on the degree of texturing.Using this technique, it can be easily applied to gel surfaces with low friction. We also designed and developed a unique friction tester for machines. Furthermore, by replacing the metal sliding part with a gel mechanical material, we succeeded in miniaturizing the ultrasonic diagnostic equipment. Figure 1