Comparison on efficiency of solid-lubricant fillers for polyetheretherketone-based composites

Mechanical and tribotechnical properties of perspective thermoplastic polyetheretherketone (PEEK) based composites loaded with various fillers under dry sliding friction were investigated in order to assess the efficiency of micron size fillers as solid lubricant inclusions. It is shown that polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) can serve as efficient solid lubricant filler for polyetheretherketone matrix since wear resistance increases by 4 times, while coefficient of friction decreases by 1.7 times. For a number of inorganic micron size fillers (graphite, molybdenum disulphide, boron nitride) their nonuniform distribution in the matrix was observed which is most probably related to the layered fragmentary permolecular structure formation and loss of wear resistance of these PEEK composites.