Abstract
Reducing interfacial energy gradient can improve the anti-wear property and even achieve an ultralow wear performance of polyetheretherketone/polytetrafluoroethylene (PEEK/PTFE) composite. Previous studies have primarily focused on the tribochemical crosslinking of PTFE molecules to reduce interfacial energy gradient which resulted in poor lubricity and lengthy run-in periods of polymer-lubricating systems. Here, we propose and prepare a microstructure-armored surface (MSAS) for directly reducing the interfacial energy gradient for the ultralow-wear PEEK/PTFE composites. The morphological, chemical, and tribological characteristics of the PEEK/PTFE running against MSAS were studied. The results show that MSAS can decrease the friction coefficient of PEEK/PTFE by more than 30 %, while reducing its initial run-in time by over 80 %, accomplished with the lowest wear rate of ∼3.8 × 10−8 mm3/Nm. This represents the best performance observed in PEEK- and PTFE-based tribosystems so far. Scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and X-photoelectron spectroscopy revealed the low interfacial energy gradient consisting of PEEK, PTFE, and carboxylated PTFE contributes to the remarkable performance of PEEK/PTFE-on-MSAS tribosystems. This study provides a new approach to designing ultralow-wear polymer tribosystems with great lubricity and a short run-in period beyond composite design.
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