Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
(1992) 1-13
2010066,
Beijing (China)
Abstract
Mechanisms of wet abrasion for nitrile rubber (NBR), polytetralluoroethylene
(PTFE) and
fluoropolymer alloy (F50-1) have been investigated. Specimens were held against a rotating
steel disc. Both the specimen and the steel disc were immersed in an abrasive liquid of
the type used for oil-well drilling. The abraded surfaces of samples were examined using
scanning electron microscopy. It is concluded that wear occurs as a result of two different
mechanisms: a local microtearing process and a general microlayering or micropolishing
process. Wear rates of polymeric materials have been found to increase with increasing
sand content of media and with decreasing sliding speed. Mostly, these rates of wear also
increase with normal load. However, wear rates of F50-1 were found to be surprisingly
insensitive to normal load at 100 C.
1. Introduction
The wear process of the operating surface of a body induced by a fluid medium
containing abrasive particles between the interacting solid surfaces in relative motion
may be termed wet abrasion or hydroabrasive wear. It is closely analogous to abrasive
erosion. However, its leading feature is the abrasive fluid flowing between the interacting
solid surfaces under load contact. Unfortunately,
these two types of wear were mixed
up for a long time, with the result that not much attention was paid to the consideration
of wet abrasion as an independent
form of wear until now. Particularly, study of the
wear mechanisms of wet abrasion of polymers is almost a gap in tribology.
A number of polymeric tribocomponents
used in the petroleum
and mining
industries are operated in liquid media containing abrasive particles. It has been shown
that wet abrasion is usually the dominant wear mechanism resulting in earlier failure
of these components.
This work was specifically aimed at obtaining a preliminary understanding
of the
basic mechanisms of polymer wet abrasion based on investigations
of nitrile rubber
(NBR), polytetralluoroethylene
(PTFE) and fluoropolymer
alloy (F50-1).
2. Literature survey
Wet abrasion of polymers is a complex process which has not been extensively
studied. Hence knowledge of the basic mechanism has remained obscure, though some
relevant experimental
observations
have been presented.
Burr and Marshek [l] have developed an empirical equatiqn for the abrasion of
elastomeric O-ring materials. Wear experiments were conducted on an O-ring abrasive
Elsevier Sequoia
wear test machine [2]. Specimen cuts from a size number 330 O-ring, which is the
size used to seal a standard size rock bit bearing and has a normal inside diameter
of 54 mm and a cross-sectional
diameter of 4.76 mm, were held against a rotating
steel wear cylinder. Both the specimen and the cylinder were immersed in an abrasive
mud used for oil-well drilling. The equation obtained may be used to predict the
volume loss for varying conditions of the elastomers surface contact stress and time
if the wear constant is determined
by wear testing.
Simuiating the service conditions of a screw-liner pair in a Dynadrill (a downhole
drilling motor), an experimental
study of wear in rubber-steel
friction pairs with a
crescent-shaped
radial clearance in an abrasive liquid has been carried out [3]. With
a rubber-lined
cylinder against a steel cylinder in water containing abrasives and in
drilling mud respectively, experiments
were conducted
to determine
the effects of
dynamic load and its frequency, concentration
of abrasives and thickness of rubberlined layer on the wear characteristics
of the screw-liner pair. At a frequency ~=20
Hz and magnitude S= & 118 N cmP2 of dynamic load, a plot of wear rates of rubber
in an abrasive liquid containing
3% by volume of abrasives against dynamic load has
been obtained (Fig. 1). The wear rate of rubber is seen to increase with increasing
average dynamic load per unit area, in particular for p > 20 kPa. Concerning the wear
mechanism of rubber under the action of dynamic load, the wear processes resulting
from microcutting and microscratching
are seen to be dominant. Furthermore,
it has
been proven that the lifetime of rubber is related to its tensile strength and tear
strength.
In view of the short service life of the pumping parts in reciprocating mud pumps,
Lewis 14-71 has investigated the impact of design factors on the wear characteristics
of the pump cylinder liner, which incorporates
a piston with a replaceable
rubber
seal. A new piston has been developed on the basis of functional
analysis which
concentrated
on the wear problems associated with the replaceable seal.
The effect of various abrasive-containing
liquids on the wear resistance of the
rubber seal in the piston of a drilling pump has been studied [8]. It has been found
that the wear resistance of the rubber for all test media is inversely proportional
to
the load per unit area. This conclusion is much the same as that obtained in ref. 1.
Moreover, the wear mechanism is dependent on the load per unit area. It has been
shown that a change from abrasive wear to corrosion wear occurs at high load per
unit area (10 MPa or more). It is possible that hardly any abrasive particles enter
Fig. 1. Wear rate vs. average dynamic load per unit area, p, (A) in water-containing
and (B) in drilling mud (after ref. 3).
abrasives
the ebbing
surfaces under conditions of high contact load. The effect of selective
transfer on the tribaiogicaf characteristics of rubber-metal
frictional pairs in reciprocating
motion was also investigated in ref. 8. It was observed that the addition of a small
amount of cupric sulphate to the liquid considerably reduces the abrasive wear.
The effect of lubricating rubber samples with water on the abrasion rate was also
examined [9] using a blade abrader as described in ref. 10. It has been found that
the wear rate is dramatically reduced by at least a factor of ten, whereas the frictional
force decreases only by perhaps 10%. This result is apparently in conflict with earlier
theory for line contact abrasion under dry conditions [ill. Other lubricants such as
talc and silicone oils show a similar effect. This may be explained by a change in
deformation mode of the abrasion pattern under lubricated conditions [X2].
However, wet abrasion was not considered to be a specific type of wear in the
studies in question, though most of the experiments were conducted in abrasive liquid
media. In recent years a number of studies on wet abrasion of nitrile rubber,
poIytetr~uoroethyle~e
and ~uoropol~er
alloy have been carried out by the present
author and his colleagues. Some of the results wili be discussed below.
3. Experimeutal
details
Fig. 2. Schematic
TABLE
of F50-1
3000
800
2600
400
500
1.36
3.13
D57-59
267-327
2.15-2.17
0.17-0.21
3x104
0.005
TABLE 2
Experimental
parameters
Nl
N2
Specimen
Shape
Number
NBR
Pin
1
NBR
Pin
2
PTFE
Ring
1
F50-1
Pin
2
70-200
44-59
100-200
235-393
Sliding speed II
0.33
1.1-1.8
3.13-8.8
1.1-8.8
material
(m s-)
Sand content
(wt.%)
of medium
2.81
5.11
0.02
0.13
0.02
0.13
Temperature
(C)
26&3
25
25
100
Fig. 3. Three-body
Nl).
wet abrasion
pattern
(sand content
Fig. 4. Three-body
Nl).
wet abrasion
pattern
(sand content
Fig. 5. Three-body
Nl).
Fig. 6. Two-body
wet abrasion
wet abrasion
pattern
pattern
(sand content
In contrast,
it has been found that the worn surface of a rubber pin immersed
in water is characterized
by same, scratching traces and microlayered surface texture
(Fig. 6).
As shown, the edges of the tearing traces are mostly less regular than those of
the scratching traces. It seems certain that the irregular-shaped
abrasive particles
rubbing
against the rubber surface are not simply sliding but also rotating along
the direction of motion.
In general, the microlayers on the worn surfaces are formed almost at right angles
to the scratches (Figs. 3 and 4). When the normal load is increasing at and above a
limiting value, the microlayers are in parallel with the direction of motion {Fig. 5).
This can be accounted for by the fact that the flowability of sands in liquids is much
worsened under heavy load contact; thus the rubber specimen may be considered to
be worn against a filament gauze. In this situation the microlayers are formed in the
direction of sliding, just like the wear pattern for NBR worn against a polyester gauze
[131*
It has been observed that the fineness of the microlayered surface texture indicates
the abrasion level of the worn surface. The surface microdelamination
probably results
from micromolecular
fracture or repeated rupture of molecular chains under the action
of mechanical stress as proposed previously 134, 151.
Consequently,
the mechanism of three-body wet abrasion in question appears to
involve two wear processes simultaneously:
directional microtearing (minority) by coarse
particles and directionless microlayering or micropolishing
(majority) by fine particles.
Concerning
the PTFE and F50-1 samples, the morphological
character of the
abraded surfaces is much the same as that for the NBR samples. However, a certain
plastic defo~ation
was found on the abraded surfaces of the PTFE and F50-1 samples,
especially under high temperature
and larger normal load conditions (Fig. 7).
4.2. Rates of wear
4.2.1. NBR
The experimentally
measured rates
As expected, the wear rateA increases
scales for both axes, the experimentally
accurately by a linear relationship
(Fig.
general result
A=kF
0)
where the coefficient k and exponent n are characteristic of the material being examined.
The values obtained are given in Table 4,
It is of interest to note that the wear equation in question has the same form
as obtained previously using a different type of test machine under dry abrasive
Fig. 7. Three-body wet abrasion pattern (sand content 3 wt.%, normal load 334 N) (code F).
8
TABLE 3
wear rate A at various values of friction force F {code Nl)
Measured
21.1
0.72
24.1
0.83
26.7
0.92
31.0
1.10
32.6
1.30
25.2
0.94
28.7
1.27
33.5
1.36
37.4
1.38
40.8
1.75
F (N)
A (g rev-) X 10
2.81
Coefficient
k and exponent
(code Nl)
kx10
5.11
2.0
1.0
1.2
1.4
6.5 x 1O-6
2.1
2.81
Dry two-body abrasion
[16]
conditions {16]. It may be deduced that the main physical process of wet three-body
abrasion is tearing in a similar way to that of dry two-body abrasion.
Using logarithmic scales for both axes, a linear relationship
between wear rate
A and coefficient of friction JL was also obtained based upon the experimentally
measured values given in Table 5 (Fig. 9):
A=appb
(2)
TABLE 5
Measured
Sand content
2.81 wt.%
_Z (g rev-)X
10
Sand content
5.11 wt.%
A (g rev-)X
10
of friction
p (code Nl)
0.163
1.30
0.172
1.10
0.178
0.92
0.201
0.83
0.72
0.234
0.55
0.266
0.204
1.75
0.208
1.38
0.223
1.36
0.239
1.27
0.94
0.280
0.80
0.326
of friction
+: A, sand content
Coefficient
a and exponent
Sand content
(wt.%)
5.11
2.81
Result of Burr and Marshek
TABLE
Measured
[l]
(code Nl)
0.16
0.03
1.5
2.0
0.0034-0.0045
0.025
7
coefficient
L (N)
p (sand content
/I (sand content
2.81 wt.%)
5.11 wt.%)
70
0.266
0.326
90
0.234
0.280
120
0.201
0.239
150
0.178
0.223
180
0.172
0.208
200
0.163
0.204
Fig. 10. Coefficient of friction p ZX. normal load L: A, sand content 5.11 wt.%; B, sand content
2.81 wt.% (code Nl).
TABLE 8
Coefficient
c and exponent
Sand content
(wt.%)
5.11
2.81
(code Nl)
0.27
0.22
0.45
0.47
HI.33
TABLE 9
Measured
Sand
content
(wt.%)
10
51.5
58.9
0.13
1.1
1.8
11.0
4.17
13.3
6.20
21.4
7.24
0.02
1.1
1.8
1.0
0.88
0.95
0.87
0.60
0.44
The
11
TABLE
Measured
10
coefficient
of friction
p (code N2)
Coefficient
Sliding
speed v
(m s-*)
Sand
content
(wt.%)
of friction
51.5
58.9
0.13
1.1
1.8
0.31
0.14
0.33
0.19
0.33
0.21
0.02
1.1
1.8
0.19
0.13
0.16
0.12
0.15
0.11
TABLE
Measured
11
wear rate A (code P)
Sand
content
(wt.%)
Sliding
speed v
(m s-t)
150
200
0.13
3.14
6.28
8.80
6.5
5.2
1.7
7.0
5.8
2.5
7.1
5.5
3.7
0.02
3.14
6.28
8.80
3.2
1.4
1.5
4.4
1.6
2.2
5.0
2.7
3.1
TABLE
Measured
Sand
content
(wt.%)
0.13
0.02
12
coefficient
of friction
p (L = 150 N) (code P)
Coefficient
of friction p
6.28
3.80
0.23
0.18
0.19
0.17
0.19
0.16
4.2.2. PTFE
The experimental
results under mild conditions
(code P) are shown
and 12.
The influence
of sliding speed on wear rate and frictional
coefficient
as that for NBR mentioned
before.
in Tables
11
is the same
L(N)
c ,*3 -1)
m s-l; C, v=8.80 m
5. Conclusions
13
wear rates also increase with increasing normal load in general, but only if the sand
content of the medium is not too small for NBR. Concerning F50-1, the wear rates
were found to be surprisingly insensitive to normal load at 100 C.
References
1 B. H. Burr and K. M. Marshek, Wear, 81 (1982) 347.
2 B. H. Burr and K. M. Marshek, Wear, 68 (1981) 21.
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Russian).
4 E. C. Lewis, in S. K. Rhee, A. W. Ruff and K. C. Ludema (eds.), Wear of Materials 1981,
ASME, p. 791.
5 E. C. Lewis, Petrol. Erg, 53 (1981) 162.
6 E. C. Lewis, Petrol. Eng., 53 (1981) 130.
7 E. C. Lewis, Petrol. Eng., 54 (1982) 136.
8 B. F. Puchugen, Machinery and Oilfield Equipment, 8 (1982) 9 (in Russian).
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68.
10 D. H. Champ, E. Southern and A. G. Thomas, in L. H. Lee (ed.), Advances in Polymer
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12 A. H. Muhr, T. 0. J. Ford and A. G. Thomas, J. Chim. Phys., 84 (2) (1987) 331.
13 J. A. Schweitz and L. Ahman, in K. C. Ludema (ed.), Wear of Materials 1983, ASME, New
York, 1983, p. 610.
14 V. L. Dyrda, V. L. Vettegren and V. P. Nadutyi, Int. Polym. Sci. Technol., 3 (1976) T/66.
15 S. W. Zhang, Rubber Chem. Technol., 57 (1984) 755.
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17 D. Tabor, Wear, 1 (1957-1958) 5.
18 A. D. Sarker, Friction and Wear, Academic Press, New York, 1980.