Study on preparation process parameters and tribological properties of porous PI materials

Purpose Previously, the effect of pore-forming agents on the properties of pore size and morphology was studied. In this paper, we determine the optimal combination of parameters by tensile strength and perform tribological tests with optimal combination of parameters. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, porous polyimide (PI) materials were fabricated using vacuum hot molding technology. The orthogonal experiment was designed to test the mechanical properties of porous PI materials with the process parameters and the content of pore-forming agent as the changing factors. The porous PI oil-bearing materials were obtained by vacuum immersion, and tribological test were carried out. Findings The results showed that porous PI oil-bearing materials are suitable for low-speed and low-load conditions. The actual value of the friction coefficient basically match with the theoretical value of the regression analysis, and the errors of the friction coefficient are within 10% and 3%, respectively, which proves that the method used in the study is feasible for the friction coefficient prediction. Originality/value In this paper, we have produced a new porous oil-bearing material with good tribological properties. This study can effectively predict the friction coefficient of PI porous material.

Tribological behavior of UHMWPE in water lubrication: the effect of molding temperature

Purpose Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is adopted in water-lubricated bearings for its excellent performance. This paper aims to investigate the tribological properties of UHMWPE with a molecular weight of 10.2 million (g mol‐1) under different molding temperatures. Design/methodology/approach The UHMWPE samples were prepared by mold pressing under constant pressure and different molding temperatures (140°C, 160°C, 180°C, 200°C, 220°C). The friction and wear tests in water were conducted at the RTEC tribo-tester. Findings The friction coefficient and wear loss decreased first and rose later with the increasing molding temperature. The minimums of the friction coefficient and wear loss were found at the molding temperatures of 200°C. At low melting temperatures, the UHMWPE molecular chains could not unwrap thoroughly, leading to greater abrasive wear. On the other hand, high melting temperatures will cause the UHMWPE molecular chains to break up and decompose. The optimal molding temperatures for UHMWPE were found to be 200°C. Originality/value Findings are of great significance for the design of water-lubricated UHMWPE bearings.

Friction Characteristics Analysis of Symmetric Aluminum Alloy Parts in Warm Forming Process

There are many typical symmetric large plastic deformation problems in aluminum alloy stamping. Warm stamping technology can improve the formability of materials and obtain parts with high-dimensional accuracy. Friction behavior in the stamping process is significant for the forming quality. An accurate friction coefficient is helpful in improving the prediction accuracy of forming defects. It is hard to obtain a unified and precise friction model through simple experiments due to the complicated contact conditions. To explore the effect of friction behavior on the forming quality, warm friction experiments of the AA6061 aluminum alloy and P20 steel with different process parameters were carried out using a high-temperature friction tester CFT-I (Equipment Type), including temperatures, the interface load, and sliding speeds. The variation curves of the friction coefficient with various parameters were obtained and analyzed. The results show that the friction coefficient increases with temperature and decreases with the sliding speed and load. Then, the influences of process parameters on the surface morphology of the samples after friction were observed by an optical microscope; adhesive wear occurred when the temperature increased, and the surface scratch increased and deepened with the increase in the load. Finally, the friction coefficient models of the speed and load were established by analyzing the data with Original software. Compared with the experimental and the finite element analysis results of the symmetrical part, the errors of the velocity friction model in thickness and springback angle are less than 4% and 5%, respectively. The mistakes of the load friction model are less than 6% and 7%, respectively. The accuracy of the two friction models is higher than that of the constant friction coefficient. Therefore, those coefficient models can effectively improve the simulation accuracy of finite element software.

An Improved Synthetic Eddy Method for Generating Inlet Turbulent Boundary Layers

An improved synthetic eddy method (SEM) is proposed in this paper for generating the boundary layer at the inlet of a computational domain via direct numerical simulation. The improved SEM modified the definition of the radius and the velocities of the eddies according to the distance of the eddies from the wall in the synthetic region. The regeneration location of the eddies is also redefined. The simulation results show that the improved SEM generates turbulent fluctuations that closely match the DNS results of the experiments. The skin friction coefficient of the improved SEM recovers much faster and has lower dimensionless velocity at the outer of the boundary layer than that of the traditional SEM.

Numerical simulations of a freely falling rigid sphere in bounded and unbounded water domains

Numerical studies were conducted on the hydrodynamics of a freely falling rigid sphere in bounded and unbounded water domains to investigate the drag coefficient, normalized velocity, pressure coefficient, and skin friction coefficient as a function of dimensionless time. The bounded domain was simulated by bringing the cylindrical water container's wall closer to the impacting rigid sphere and linking it to the blockage ratio (BR), defined as the ratio of the projection area of a freely falling sphere to that of the cross-section area of the cylindrical water container. Six cases of bounded domains (BR= 1%, 25%, 45%, 55%, 65%, and 75%) were studied. However, the unbounded domain was considered with a BR of 0.01%. In addition, the k–ω shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model was employed, and the computed results of the bounded domain were compared with those of other studies on unbounded domains. In the case of the bounded domain, which has a higher value of BR, a substantial reduction in normalized velocity and an increase in the drag coefficient were found. Moreover, the bounded domain yielded a significant increase in the pressure coefficient when the sphere was half-submerged; however, an insignificant effect was found on the skin friction coefficient. In the case of the unbounded domain, a significant reduction in the normalized velocity occurred with a decrease in the Reynold number (Re) whereas the drag coefficient increases with a decrease in Reynolds number.

Sensitivity Analysis of Holdback Bar Release Load during Catapult-Assisted Takeoff of Carrier-Based Aircraft

The release load of holdback bar will affect the safety of catapult-assisted takeoff of carrier-based aircraft, and the accurate control of releasing the load will ensure success. The magnitude and the control accuracy of release load are important parameters which impact the takeoff performance, therefore unstable release load and insufficient release precision are the main factors affecting the takeoff safety. In this paper, mechanical models of the carrier-based aircraft in the catapult-assisted takeoff tensioning state and gliding state after release are established based on multi-body dynamics, contact mechanics and tribological theory, and the influence of the release load of the holdback bar on the catapult-assisted takeoff performance is analyzed. Furthermore, a kinetic model of the holdback bar device is established, and the kinetic characteristics of the release process of the holdback bar are studied. Based on the kinetic model and friction model of the holdback bar, the influencing factors of the sensitivity of the holdback bar release load are analyzed and the structural parameters are optimized. The results show that the released load decreases slowly with the increase of the contact surface angle of the holdback bar structure and increases rapidly when that angle reaches the critical value; besides, the release load increases slowly with the increase of the friction coefficient of the contact surface and increases faster when the critical friction coefficient is reached.

Development of Porous Films Based on Polyanionic Cellulose to Form Functional Coatings

New porous films based on polyanionic cellulose with AlOOH nanoparticles have been developed. The morphology of the films has been studied by electron microscopy: the size of the formed pores is 1000-500 microns; the total surface porosity of the films is 30%. Using infrared microscopy, it was shown that during the formation of porous films, their chemical composition remains unchanged. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to determine the threshold for thermal destruction of porous films: 306 С. The possibility of using the obtained materials as antifriction coatings when filling the pores with solid lubricant MoS2 is considered. It is shown that for a steel sample protected by a porous coating with MoS2, the friction coefficient decreases by 50% compared to the friction coefficient for a steel surface under a load of up to 450 MPa.

Tribological Properties of Carbon Nanotube and Carbon Nanofiber Blended Polyvinylidene Fluoride Sheets Laminated on Steel Substrates

Nanostructured carbon dispersed polymer nanocomposites are promising materials for tribological applications. Carbon nanofiber (CNF) and carbon nanotube (CNT) dispersed polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanocomposite was prepared by chemical synthesis route. Morphology and microstructure of well-dispersed CNF and CNT in PVDF were specified by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction, respectively. Moreover, chemical and functional characteristics were examined by Raman spectroscopy and FTIR investigation. The friction coefficient of PVDF nanocomposite laminated on steel substrate decreased with an increase in the dispersed quantity of CNF and CNT. The friction coefficient of PVDF is approximately 0.27; however, the addition of carbon nanomaterial in PVDF will further decrease the friction coefficient between 0.24 and 0.17. This value was significantly less in CNT dispersed PVDF nanocomposite. This could be explained by easy shearing and rolling action contact interfaces.

Tribological behavior and film-forming mechanism of a polytetrafluoroethylene/polyester fabric composite

Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the tribological behavior and wear mechanism of a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)/polyester (PET) fabric composite for application as a self-lubricating liner suitable for high-speed and low-load friction conditions. Design/methodology/approach The effects of different loads and sliding speeds on the friction coefficients and wear characteristics of the composite were studied using reciprocating friction tests. Scanning electron microscopy, extended depth-of-field microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry was used to analyze the worn surface morphology, wear depth and elemental content of the lubrication films, respectively. Findings The friction coefficient curves of the composites presented a long-term steady wear stage under different sliding conditions. With increasing sliding speed, the friction coefficient and wear depth of the composite slowly increased. The film-forming mechanism of the composite revealed that the PTFE/PET ply yarn on the composite surface formed complete PTFE lubrication films at the initial sliding stage. Originality/value The PTFE/PET fabric composite maintained good friction stability and high-speed adaptability, which demonstrates that the composite has broad application prospects as a highly reliable self-lubricating bearing liner with a long lifespan.