ÇYMAPE ve PEEK POLİMERLERİNİN KURU ve KAKAO ÇÖZELTİSİ ORTAMLARINDAKİ A INMA ve SÜRTÜNME DAVRANI LARININ ARA TIRILMASI INVESTIGATION OF FRICTION AND WEAR BEHAVIOUR OF UHMWPE AND PEEK POLYMERS UNDER DRY SLIDING AND CACAO LUBRICATED CONDITIONS

The friction and wear performance of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene(UHMWPE) and pure poly-ether-etherketone(PEEK) polymers were comparatively evaluated under dry sliding and cacao drops lubrication. The sliding experiments were carried out on a pin-on-disc tribometer. The contact configuration used was a polymer pin on a rotating stainless steel disc. Wear tests were carried out at room temperature under 50, 100 and 150N loads and at 0.40 m/s sliding speed. The results show that the coefficient of friction for ultra high molecular weight polyethylene and pure PEEK decreases with the increase in load value. The coefficient of friction for PEEK polymer is higher than that of UHMWPE at both dry sliding and cacao-lubricated conditions. Moreover, for the range of load of this study, the coefficient of friction using cacao lubricant registered lower values than that of the dry condition. Finally, the specific wear rates for UHMWPE under cacao-lubricated conditions were in the order of 7.6x10m/N. while under dry sliding conditions this value is in the order of 2,94x10 m/N. Likewise, the specific wear rates for PEEK under cacao-lubricated conditions were in the order of 1,1x10 m/N. while under dry sliding conditions this value is in the order of 4,5x10 m/N.