Tribological properties of polyimide-modified UHMWPE for bushing materials of seawater lubricated sliding bearings

Abstract Experiments of polyimide/UHMWPE composites sliding against tin-bronze counterfaces under seawater condition have been conducted with a pin-on-disk configuration in this study, aiming at developing matched materials for the bushing of seawater lubricated bearing. As the results, the friction efficient of composite/bronze sliding pairs decreases with the increase in polyimide proportion; however, the wear rate and optimum surface roughness of polyimide/UHMWPE composites firstly decrease and then increase. Mesoscale simulation results show that phase segregation has important effects on wear mechanism. The composite with 50 wt.% polyimide has the lowest wear rate and optimum surface roughness.