Mechanism of boron carbide particles improving the wear resistance of UHMWPE: Structure-property relationship

Abstract

Inorganic particles are often used to enhance the wear resistance of UHMWPE, but the mechanism of the “enhancement effect” of inorganic particles improving the wear resistance of UHMWPE is ambiguous. In this paper, boron carbide particles(B4C) were used to improve the wear resistance of UHMWPE, it was found that the wear resistance of UHMWPE was increased by up to 46% with appropriate filler loading of B4C. Subsequently, the mechanism of B4C improving the wear resistance of UHMWPE was studied and illustrated from the perspective of structure-property relationship. The B4C particles act as exotic entanglement points, forming an entanglement network of particle-coupling agent-matrix, improving the degree of entanglement of molecular chains in the amorphous region of UHMWPE, thus improving the shear resistance of the matrix and reducing the structure damage caused by strong shearing during friction. Meanwhile, the highly entangled molecular chains prevented the transition of the interphase to the crystalline region, thus increasing the content of the interphase of UHMWPE and consequently alleviating the structural damage during the friction. Furthermore, B4C particles played the role of load bearing, which enhanced the compression resistance of UHMWPE then reduced the structure damage caused by compression in the normal upward during friction. This paper could be helpful to better understand the role of fillers on the wear resistance of UHMWPE and provide theoretical guidance to improve the wear resistance of UHMWPE and other materials.