Effect of load on the friction and wear characteristics of Si3N4-hBN ceramic composites sliding against PEEK in artificial seawater

Abstract In this paper, the tribological characteristics of Si3N4-hBN ceramic composites sliding against poly-ether-ether-ketone in artificial seawater were investigated, and the normal load was varied from 10 N to 30 N in the step of 10 N to investigate the effect. It can be found that the tribological performance of sliding pair improved with the increasing load. This result was attributed to the complex factor about the polymer characteristics, the seawater environment and tribochemical reaction products. On the other hand, hBN had a magnificent effect on the tribological properties of Si3N4-hBN/PEEK pairs. Especially, SN20/PEEK sliding pair possessed the best tribological performances at the load of 30 N.