Mechanical Properties and Wear Resistance of Industrial Bearing Liners in Concentrated Boundary-Lubricated Sliding

Abstract The friction and wear behavior were studied for three materials typically found in industrial bearing applications: a Sn-based Babbitt, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and a polyether ether ketone (PEEK) composite. Test conditions were unidirectional sliding with a ball-on-disc geometry where the counter surface material was a 440C stainless steel ball (6.35 mm dia.). The tests were also in the presence of a lubricant, ISO46 oil, with the sample and contact submerged throughout the test. The relative effects of load and sliding velocities on the wear rates were assessed by means of regression analysis. Connections between wear and the materials mechanical properties, which were measured by instrumented indentation, were also made. The ranking of wear performance of the materials correlated best to the ratio of H/(E*)0.447, where H is the test material’s hardness and E* is the reduced modulus for the contact. The power applied to the reduced modulus is that used in previous studies to estimate the oil film thickness for an isoviscous, elastic lubrication regime.