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Dry Sliding and Rolling Tribotests of Carbon Black Filled EPDM Elastomers and Their FE Simulations
(2008)
Unlubricated sliding systems being economic and environmentally benign are already realized in bearings, where dry metal-plastic sliding pairs successfully replace lubricated metal-metal ones. Nowadays, a considerable part of the tribological research concentrates to realize unlubricated elastomer-metal sliding systems, and to extend the application field of lubrication-free slider elements. In this Thesis, characteristics of the dry sliding and friction are investigated for elastomer-metal sliding pairs. In this study ethylene-propylene-diene rubbers (EPDM) with and without carbon black (CB) filler were used. The filler content of the EPDMs was varied: EPDMs with 0-, 30-, 45- and 60 part per hundred rubber (phr) CB amount were investigated. Quasistatic tension and compression tests and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) were carried out to analyze the static a viscoelastic behavior of the EPDMs. The tribological properties of the EPDMs were investigated using dry roller (metal) – on – plate (rubber) type tests (ROP). During the ROP tests the normal load was varied. The coefficient of friction (COF) and the temperature were registered online during the tests, the loss volumes were determined after certain test durations. The worn surfaces of the rubbers and of the steel counterparts were analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) to determine the wear mechanisms. Because possible chemical changes may take place during dry sliding due to the elevated contact temperature the chemical composition of the surfaces was also analyzed before and after the tribotests. For the latter investigations X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), sessil drop tests and Raman spectroscopy were used. In addition, the dry sliding tribotests were simulated using finite element (FE) codes for the better understanding of the related wear mechanisms. Finally, as the internal damping effect of the elastomers plays a great role in the sliding wear process, their viscoelasticity has been taken into account. The effect of viscoelasticity was shown on example of rolling friction. To study the rolling COF for the EPDM with 30 phr CB (EPDM 30) an FE model was created which considered the viscoelastic behavior of the rubber during rolling. The results showed that the incorporated CB enhanced the mechanical and tribological properties (both COF and wear rate have been reduced) of the EPDMs. Further on, the CB content of the EPDM influences fundamentally the observed wear mechanisms. The wear characteristics changed also with the applied normal load. In case of the EPDM 30 a rubber tribofilm was found on the steel counterpart when tests were performed at high normal loads. Analysis of the chemical composition of the surfaces before and after the wear tests does not result in notable changes. It was demonstrated, that the FE method is powerful tool to model both, the dry sliding and rolling performances of elastomers.