Understanding the occurrence of a wavy wear track on elastomeric materials

Abstract

Elastomeric materials are used in daily applications, such as tires and conveyor belts. Sliding friction of elastomeric materials often produces a unique periodic wear pattern. In general, the periodic wear pattern has to be prevented because it generates surface instabilities and, as a result, vibration. Sliding contact between an elastomer and a rigid ball may cause the development of a periodic wear pattern like a wave on the elastomer surface, called a wavy wear track. The present study has investigated the occurrence of the wavy wear track on the elastomers under several operating conditions. The elastomers used were a Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR) and Butadiene Rubber (BR) reinforced with two types of fillers, i.e., highly dispersible silica and short-cut aramid fiber. A pin-on-disc tribometer was used to study the wavy wear track of the materials under several operating conditions. An analytical model was used to predict the wave length of the wear pattern and to study the occurrence of the wavy wear track. The results show that the occurrence of the wavy wear track depends on the mechanical properties of the elastomer, the operating conditions (such as sliding velocity and force), the inertia mass of the counter surface frame and the circumferential length of the wear track. The analytical model is in good agreement with the experimental results.

Friction and Wear Pattern of Silica-Reinforced Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR) in Sliding Contact with a Blade Indenter

“…It indicates that the test results according to Figures 4 and 5 confirm the analytic equations in Equations ( 2) and (3). Moreover, the wear pattern spacing obtained is longer for a larger deadweight [10,21,26]. In short, the wear pattern spacing depends not only on the given deadweight but also on the indenter system properties.…”

“…Identification of the wear pattern spacing has also been theorized as a stick-slip theory that the length of the pattern spacing does not only depend on the static load on the indenter but also depends on dynamic load due to the oscillating motion of the indenter and its frame along abrasion. Based on the formula, this stick-slip theory is applicable to various types of indenter tip [20,21]. Experimentally, it has also been shown that there is a correlation between pattern spacing length and abrasion rate [9,22].…”

Numerical Investigation of the Sliding Contact of Tire Rubber Material Due to a Blade Sliding Indentation

“…Experimentally, research on friction contacts in tire rubber has been widely carried out by some researchers. Many valuable results were obtained from the research, both on the prototype scale and laboratory scale [2][3][4][5]. The parameters produced are generally in the form of friction force, friction coefficient and abrasion wear.…”

Stress Analysis of the Friction Contact on filled Styrene Butadiene Rubber by a Blade Indentation: A Numerical Investigation

“…Most of rubber or elastomer friction has been studied experimentally in sliding contact. There were some valuable results associated with a friction contact, i.e., friction force, stick-slip occurrence, abrasion wear etc [3][4][5][6][7]. Experimentally, when a smooth rubber surface was abraded, a periodic wear pattern was formed i.e.…”