Wear and friction of wear pad materials

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis was to improve the performance of a wear pad by find- ing a better material for the pad. Three attributes were identified as the leading features that contribute the most on wear pad performance: wear rate in sand-slurry, coefficient of friction against steel, and pad price. The research methods that were used in this the- sis are literature research and experimental study. Based on the literature review, a total of 12 plastic and composite wear pad materials were tested in a dry abrasion rubber wheel apparatus. The results of the test were used to further limit the number of material candidates. Three materials - alongside with the current polyurethane (PUR) material of the wear pad - were subjected to long-term tests. These tests simulated the actual environment of the wear pad. Measurements were done throughout the tests to gain picture of the wear and friction properties of the specimens. The main tests showed us that two ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene–materials (UHMWPE) had over three times better overall performance than the current material. The UHMWPE-material that performed the best had positive change in all three com- parison attributes: Its wear rate and price were both less than one third than that of PUR’s. Also, in a specific environment, this UHMWPE-material had a coefficient of friction just over one fifth of the value for PUR.