Effects of fibrillating PTFE on transfer, wear, and friction
Date
2025
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Solid lubricants are crucial in applications where conventional liquid lubricants fail due to extreme environmental conditions, such as high temperature, high pressure, or chemical exposure. Among these, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) stands out for its exceptional low friction properties. However, its high wear rate poses a significant challenge, limiting its effectiveness and long-term reliability in demanding tribological applications. Traditional fillers and even nano fillers have successfully reduced wear by orders of magnitude through presumed mechanisms that include crack arresting, mechanical load support, and improved transfer film adhesion. There is emerging evidence, however, that the most successful of these promote PTFE fibrillation, a unique process where PTFE chains unfold and create an expanded network of fibrils and nodes under mechanical stress. Fibrillation is native to PTFE prior to melt processing but not after. The retention of fibrillation of PTFE due to the inclusion of nanofillers would be expected to enhance transfer film adhesion and stability, which in turn reduces friction and wear. To date, this potential wear reducing role of nanofillers has not been considered or studied. ☐ This research seeks to address this gap by isolating and studying the effects of fibrillation on PTFE tribological performance in the absence of fillers. My hypothesis is fibrillating PTFE can reduce wear and friction through enhancing nanoscopic fibrils anchoring to the countersurface under standard sliding conditions. The aim is to retain fibrillation within melt-processed PTFE parts and study its effects on PTFE transfer, wear, and friction. ☐ This work proposes and tests an entirely new parallel wear reduction mechanism of nanofillers in PTFE, isolates and assesses the effect of PTFE fibrillation on its tribology for the first time, and adds new insight into the nature of ultra-low wear and its practical limitations. ☐ Keywords: PTFE, Transfer film, Fibrillation, Wear, Friction, Nanofiller.
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Keywords
Fibrillation, Friction, Nanofillers, Polytetrafluoroethylene, Transfer film, Wear