Tribological properties of polyoxymethylene (POM) composites containing a trace amount of silicon carbide (SiC) and/or calcium salt of octacosanoic acid (Ca-OCA) as well as containing polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) were investigated by means of a pin-on-disk type wear apparatus. The spherulite size of POM composites was measured using a polarizing microscope. Mechanical properties and gear performance of the composites were also evaluated. It was found that the coefficient of friction was drastically lowered due to the lubricant effect of Ca-OCA added to POM/SiC composites. Further, the wear rate was also decreased by the nucleating effect of SiC and Ca-OCA. Especially, POM/SiC(0.1)/Ca-OCA(1) composite containing SiC 0.1 wt.% and Ca-OCA 1 wt.% showed the coefficient of friction as low as that of POM/PTFE(24) composite containing PTFE 24 wt.%, keeping higher wear resistance. Also, its mechanical properties were found to be the same level as those of unfilled POM, except that its izod impact strength became higher than that of unfilled POM. Furthermore, its gear performance was confirmed to be satisfactory without generating noise under the dry running condition, when the same gears were combined below 13 MPa of bending stress. [S0742-4787(00)00304-0]

1.
Bahadur
,
S.
, and
Gong
,
D.
,
1993
, “
The Investigation of the Action of Fillers by XPS Studies of the Transfer Films of PEEK and Its Composites Containing CuS and CuF2
,”
Wear
,
160
, p.
131
131
.
2.
Bahadur
,
S.
, and
Polineni
,
V.
,
1996
, “
Tribological Studies of Glass Fabricreinforced Polyamide Composites Filled with CuO and PTFE
,”
Wear
,
200
, p.
95
95
.
3.
Yu
,
L.
, and
Bahadur
,
S.
,
1998
, “
An Investigation of the Transfer Film Characteristics and the Tribological Behaviors of Polyphenylene Sulfide Composites in Sliding against Tool Steel
,”
Wear
,
214
, p.
245
245
.
4.
Wang
,
Q.
,
Xue
,
Q.
, and
Shen
,
W.
,
1997
, “
The Friction and Wear Properties of Nanometre SiO2 Filled Polyetheretherketone
,”
Tribol. Int.
,
30
, p.
193
193
.
5.
Wang
,
Q.
,
Xu
,
J.
,
Shen
,
W.
, and
Xue
,
Q.
,
1997
, “
The Effect of Nanometer SiC Filler on the Tribological Behavior of PEEK
,”
Wear
,
209
, p.
316
316
.
6.
Kurokawa
,
M.
, and
Uchiyama
,
Y.
,
1999
, “
Tribological Properties of Polyoxymethylene Composites (Part 1)
,”
Tribologist
,
44
, p.
544
544
.
7.
Kurokawa
,
M.
, and
Uchiyama
,
Y.
,
1998
, “
Tribological Properties of Polymer Composites (1) Effects of Fine Powder Additives on Polyoxymethylene Composites
,” Polymer Preprints,
Soc. Polym. Sci., Jpn.
,
47
, No.
5
, p.
957
957
.
8.
Lu
,
Z.
, and
Friedrich
,
K.
,
1995
, “
On Sliding Friction and Wear of PEEK and its Composites
,”
Wear
,
181–183
, p.
624
624
.
9.
Takayanagi
,
M.
, and
Nitta
,
K.
,
1997
, “
Application of a Tie Molecule Model to the Postyielding Deformation of Crystalline Polymers
,”
Macromol. Theory Simul.
,
6
, p.
181
181
.
10.
Nitta
,
K.
, and
Takayanagi
,
M.
,
1999
, “
Role of Tie Molecules in the Yielding Deformation of Isotactic Polypropylene
,”
J. Polym. Sci., Part B, Polym. Phys.
,
37
, p.
357
357
.
You do not currently have access to this content.