Experimental and modelling investigation on the fretting wear of PTFE with and without electron-beam irradiation

Abstract Running condition fretting map has long been recognized as a useful tool for investigating fretting wear. It illustrates the fretting condition for a fretting couple under different displacement amplitudes and loads, which is of great significance for the fretting research. However, it requires a large amount of data to draw running condition fretting map for only one fretting couple, therefore, it is urgent to find a simple method to illustrate the fretting condition. In this paper, the cross-linked polytetrafluoroethylene (XPTFE) with excellent mechanical properties was fabricated by electron beam irradiation. Based on the tribological behavior of XPTFE and PTFE under different displacement amplitudes, it was found that the ratio of static friction force to deformation ( F s / Δ d ) can be further used to analyze the fretting behavior of fretting couple under specific running conditions. In addition, the F s / Δ d value is closely related to the mechanical properties of the fretting couples. This study provides a new solution for exploring the mechanical properties and running conditions for fretting couples.