Assignment No: 1

(Weathering of Rubbers)



Abrasion





Prepared By: Assigned By:
Shah Krunal R. Prof. B.H. Shah
Roll No: 716009 Head of Department
M.E. Sem-I (CHEM-CAPD) Chemical Engineering Department
L. D. College of Engineering.





Chemical Engineering Department
L.D. College of Engineering
Ahmedabad 380015
Year 2012

Assignment-1: Abrasion:
1. Introduction: Abrasion

The mechanism and hence the rate of wear can change, sometimes quite suddenly, with
conditions such as contact pressure, speed and temperature. In any practical circumstance the
mechanisms may be complex and critically dependent on the conditions.

Consequently, the critical factor as regards testing is that the test conditions must essentially
reproduce the service conditions if a good correlation is to be obtained. Even a comparison
between two plastics may be invalid if the dominant mechanism is different in test and
service. It follows that there cannot be a universal standard abrasion test method for plastics
and the test method and test conditions have to be chosen to suit the end application. Also,
great care has to be taken if the test is intended to provide a significant degree of acceleration.

One distinction between test types is that some use a loose abradant and others use a solid
abradant. A loose abrasive powder can be used rather in the manner of a shotblasting machine
as a logical way to simulate the action of sand or similar abradants impinging on the plastic in
service. Conveyor belts or tank linings are examples of products subject to abrasion by loose
materials. A loose abradant can also be used between two sliding surfaces to simulate a
contaminant or wear debris. The majority of wear situations involve the plastic moving in
contact with another solid material and solid abradants can consist of almost anything.




Fig 1. Abrasion test geometries


Tests also differ on the basis of the geometry by which the test piece and abradant can be
rubbed together. A great many geometries are possible and some common configurations are
shown in Figure 1. In type
(a) the test piece is moved backwards and forwards linearly against a sheet of abradant (or
alternatively a strip of abradant could be moved past a stationary test piece).
(b) the abradant is a rotating disk with the test piece held against it.
(c) both test pieces are in the form of wheels either of which could be the driven member.
(d) the abrasive wheel is driven by a flat rotating test piece and
(e) both the test piece and the abradant are rotating in opposite directions.

The choice of abradant should be made primarily to give the best correlation with service, but
in practice is often chosen largely for reasons of convenience. In laboratory tests the most
common are abrasive wheels (vitreous or resilient), abrasive papers or cloth and metal
knives.

The usual abrasive wheels and papers really only relate to situations where cutting abrasion
predominates. Where plastics are used in some form of bearing the conditions will involve
much smoother surfaces and materials such as smooth metal plates would be more
appropriate.

A problem with smooth materials is that they abrade relatively slowly and, if conditions are
accelerated, give rise to excessive heat build up. With any geometry involving a fixed
abradant there is relative movement or slip between the abradant and the test piece and the
degree of slip is a critical factor in determining the wear rate. In Figure 1 (a) there is 100%
slip and the rate of slipping is the same as the rate of movement between abradant and test
piece, whereas in (c) the degree of slip can be varied by changing the angle between the
wheels. In (b), (d) and (e) the rate of slip will depend on the distance of the test piece from
the centre line. In all cases the rate depends on the speed of the driven member. An increase
in rate of slip will increase the heat generated and hence the temperature.

The contact pressure between the test piece and abradant is another critical factor in
determining wear rate. Under some conditions, wear rate may be approximately proportional
to pressure, but abrupt changes will occur if, with changing pressure, the abrasion mechanism
changes.

For example, a change can occur because of a large rise in temperature. An important
difference between apparatus of, for example, type (a) and type (d) of Figure 1 is that in the
former case, the test piece is continuously and totally in contact with the abradant and there is
no chance for the heat generated at the contact surface to be dissipated. The only method
currently standardised internationally for plastics is the abrasive wheels method, more
commonly known as the Taber abraser. A pair of abrasive wheels are in contact with a driven
flat disk test piece as in Figure 1(d).

The force on the wheels and the nature of the abradant is readily varied and the test can be
carried out in the presence of liquids. Further information on selection of test conditions,
apparatus used for polymers and expression of results can be found in the companion volume
on assessing the lifetime of rubbers.

The rate of abrasion is measured simply by loss of thickness or mass. However, laboratory
abrasion tests are notorious for not correlating with service. The term abrasion resistance
index is the ratio of the loss in volume of a standard material to the loss in volume of a test
material measured under the same specified conditions and expressed as a percentage.

The abrasion process is complicated and the rate of abrasion is very dependent on the
particular conditions. Laboratory tests cannot often properly represent the conditions in
service and hence correlation is difficult if not impossible to find. That does not mean to say
that correlations never exist, but these will be application and test specific.

The usual approach is to seek a correlation for the particular circumstances and to test
materials on a comparative basis, rather than to predict service wear rate in absolute terms.
With an apparatus which allows tests to be readily made over a range of test conditions, such
as pressure and slip angle, it may be possible to establish empirical relationships.

8. References:
Practical Guide to the Assessment of the Useful Life of Rubbers by Roger P. Brown;
Rapra Technology Limited.Pg no. 63,113