Tribological Behaviors of Carbon Fiber–Reinforced PEEK Sliding on Ion-Nitrided 2Cr13 Steel Lubricated with Tap Water

Abstract

Selecting the proper material and surface treatment methods for elements is one of the essential problems when designing water hydraulic components due to the corrosiveness and poor lubricity of water. Experimental investigation was performed to study the tribological properties of ion-nitrided 2Cr13, a kind of martensitic stainless steel, sliding on carbon fiber–reinforced polyetheretherketone (CFRPEEK). The influence of factors such as sliding velocity, load, and lubrication condition were studied through experiments mainly under tap water lubrication. It was found that the friction coefficients are influenced by both the pressure and the sliding velocity. In contrast, the friction coefficients between quenched 2Cr13 and CFRPEEK are much higher. Compared to water lubrication, both the wear rate and friction coefficients increase in the case of dry friction. Wear mainly occurred on the CFRPEEK. By examining the worn surfaces of the specimens, it was found that adhesion was the main form of wear of the PEEK composite.

KEY WORDS:

• Ion Nitriding
• Water Lubrication
• Friction
• Wear
• Carbon Fiber–Reinforced PEEK

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks are extended to the Analytical & Measuring Center of HUST for their help in the morphology analysis.

Funding

The authors thank the Ministry of Science & Technology of China for financial support (Grant No. 2008AA09Z202) of this research.