Relationship between electrostatic charge and wear of polymeric materials in translational tribocharging Process
Résumé
Electrostatic techniques have already been used to detect wear of metallic materials. Studies on the electrostatic charge of insulating materials have been made, but not many pointed out the relation that might exist between this charge and the wear. A recent investigation revealed that the wear can affect the charge of polymeric materials. The aim of this paper is to study correlation between the surface wear and the tribocharging process in the case of a conformal contact between two polymers. The experiments are performed with a translation tribometer capable to measure normal force, tangential force, and relative displacement between two polymer plates. The electrostatic charge generated by friction is measured with a non-contact electrostatic voltmeter using a 2-D mapping technique. A thermal check is made after the rubbing process. Tests are made with 5 mm- thick samples of different polymers. Wear is evaluated by 3D measurements of the profile engraved on the sample surface.