Wear-Resistant Glass-Filled Composites Based on Ultrahigh-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene. Role of Adhesion Varied with Coupling Agents

How adhesion influences tribotechnical properties of polymer composites based on ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene is assessed from mechanical and tribological characteristics of the compositions filled with 10 wt % glass fiber with various commercial coupling agents. The experimentally derived and interpolated data are used to build surfaces of effective tribotechnical characteristics, relating the type of coupling agent and the load-velocity mode in tribotests. A model is proposed for the tribological behavior of filled ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene, which allows for an analysis of the stress-strain state with consideration for the friction coefficient, level of adhesion, and yield stress of the matrix material. Their effect on friction and wear is also studied by introducing fracture criteria. It is shown that the applied load significantly affects the wear mechanism, while the adhesive interaction between the composite phases has a much smaller effect.