Orientation and Degradation of Polymer Sliding Surfaces Evaluated by Raman Spectroscopy

Present study investigates changes in the conformation of functional groups at the polymer sliding surface by postmortem Raman spectroscopy, thermomechanical analysis and SEM/EDX. Two case studies on sintered polyimide (SP) and thermoplastic polyethylene-terephtalate (PET) are presented, indicating the influences of sliding temperature, counterface type and internal lubricants (PET/PTFE) on some characteristic absorption bands in the Raman spectrum of the sliding surfaces.