Molecular dynamics study on the mechanical and tribological properties of polyimide reinforced by lanthana

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of lanthana (La2O3) on the mechanical and tribological properties of polyimide (PI). Design/methodology/approach The mechanical and tribological properties of PI nanocomposites filled with La2O3 were studied by molecular dynamic simulations to explore the deep mechanisms from an atomic or molecular view. Findings The results showed that the hardness of the PI matrix increased after La2O3 modification with a decrease of 72.4% nanoindentation depth. Besides, the friction coefficient of PI decreased by 72.2% after filling La2O3, and the shear deformation was largely reduced under the same conditions. The adsorption effect of La2O3 on the PI molecular, which reduced the atomic relative concentration, velocity, interaction with counterpart Fe layer and the temperature rise in the frictional interface, contributed to the improvement of the mechanical and tribological performance. Originality/value This study reveals the friction and wear mechanism of PI composites filled with rare earth oxide at the nanoscale.

Development of a mini-tribometer for in-situ observation of subsurface and the corresponding experiments

Purpose This paper aims to develop a Mini-Tribometer for in-situ observation of subsurface. Design/methodology/approach To observe the change of the microstructure during wear in real time, an in-situ observation mini-tribometer was developed according to the requirements of the basic frictional experiments and carried out the verification experiments. Findings The subsurface images and the tribological data obtained from the mini-tribometer clearly show that the graphite in the matrix moves to the surface and takes part in lubrication mainly in the form of extrusion and peeling off, and the migration of graphite in the copper-based composite to the frictional interface to act as lubricant and to result in the decrease of the friction coefficient. The experimental results of the developed tribometer are accurate, which can provide important references for further research on the wear mechanism of materials. Originality/value The developed in-situ observation mini-tribometer can be used to observe the dynamic wear mechanism of the frictional pairs, which is very important for optimization of material design and tribological performances.

Irregular stick-slip and the role of cohesion in an ice friction experiment

<p>Understanding the evolution of fault strength over multiple interseismic periods is crucial to quantifying seismic hazard. According to Coulomb’s failure criterion, restrengthening, or healing, may result from an increase in friction and/or in cohesion. Classic sliding experiments on rocks and fault gouges are not able to resolve the contribution of cohesion to the healing of frictional interfaces. Here, we present a zero nominal normal stress friction experiment capable of large displacements that exhibits similar complexity as the deforming lithosphere (intermittent, aperiodic deformation; Gutenberg-Richter-type scaling of event sizes). This Couette-type apparatus is designed to shear millimeter-thick layers of columnar ice, grown in-situ in a meter scale circular water tank. When the system is driven at low sliding velocities, the ice plate fractures and sliding occurs along a complex, non-prescribed frictional interface. Water beneath the ice can percolate through the sliding interface and freeze, increasing its strength. A torque gauge and an array of acoustic emission transducers are used to measure the shear strength of the frictional interface and to monitor acoustic activity. Previous work, using constant values of sliding velocity, showed that deformation occurs via a combination of slow and fast slip events, and that the “seismic” part consists of two populations of acoustic emission (AE) events: standalone and correlated, with different Gutenberg-Richter b-values. The asymmetric shape of the shear stress (torque) fluctuations was attributed to cohesion-dominated strength recovery. We are currently using a new, high speed sampling system to investigate the relationship between the stress fluctuations and the concurrent AE activity in constant as well as variable sliding velocity experiments. This work aims to evaluate the effect of time-dependent processes on systems that deform intermittently.</p>

Hollow IF-MoS2/r-GO Nanocomposite Filled Polyimide Coating with Improved Mechanical, Thermal and Tribological Properties

Polyimide (PI) is one of the most excellent polymers for coating. However, the high friction coefficient and the high wear rate of pure PI limit its further applications. In this work, the hollow inorganic fullerene-like MoS2/reduced graphene oxide (HIF-MoS2/r-GO) nanocomposite filled PI coating is prepared by in situ polymerization. Reinforcement in mechanical strength and thermal stability is realized on the PI composite coating with incorporation of HIF-MoS2/r-GO, which performs better than carbon nanofiber (CNF). Reduced elastic modulus and hardness of HIF-MoS2/r-GO/PI coating is increased by 8.3% and 4.8%, respectively. The addition of HIF-MoS2/r-GO also results in 24% higher residual mass at 800 °C than CNF. Tribological study indicates that, HIF-MoS2/r-GO/PI achieves a wear rate reduction of 79% compared with pure PI under dry sliding condition, which is much more effective than other nanofillers including CNF, r-GO nanosheets and MoS2 nanoparticles. Under ionic liquid-lubricated condition, the presence of HIF-MoS2/r-GO in PI results in a 30% reduction in wear rate and 10% reduction in friction coefficient as compared to pure PI. It is thought that the HIF-MoS2/r-GO in PI can be slowly released to the frictional interface and form a protective film during sliding, in this way the aggregation problem is successfully solved.

A Friction-Enhanced Tuned Ring Damper for Bladed Disks

This paper introduces a new type of damper for turbomachinery blisks. The major pitfalls of the damper concepts currently employed are two: the low level of relative motion that is available at the damper attachment location, and the inability to control the preload at the frictional interface. To address these issues, the proposed damper is designed as a tuned vibration absorber (TVA), which allows energy transfer from the blades to the damper provided that the natural frequency of the damper is close to that of the host structure. Thanks to the enhanced energy transfer, the damper can experience increased relative motion. Frictional contacts are then included to dissipate the energy transferred to the damper. The damper structure must be stiff enough to withstand centrifugal loading without affecting the preload too much. However, it also must be compliant to make sure that its natural frequencies can match the ones of the host structure. For this reason, the proposed damper involves a complex geometry that is stiff in the radial direction and softer in the circumferential direction, which is the direction of the relative motion. A model of the damper is created to damp the vibration of a realistic blisk. The effectiveness of the damper is investigated using high fidelity finite element (FE) models. The frequency response of the system is obtained to analyze the effectiveness of the proposed design. Preliminary results show the potential of this technology for structures with such low damping.