INVESTIGATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF CAS, CAO AND CAF2 FILLERS ON THE TRANSFER AND WEAR OF NYLON BY MICROSCOPY AND XPS ANALYSIS

The effect of CaS, CaO and CaF2 fillers on the transfer, friction and wear behaviors of nylon was studied. Sliding was performed in ambient atmosphere at a speed of 1.0 m s(-1) and a load of 19.6 N, and a pin-o n-disk configuration was used. The filler content in nylon was fixed a t 35% by volume. The counterface disk was made of hardened tool steel. The experimental results showed that CaO and CaS were effective in re ducing the wear of nylon, but CaF2 increased it greatly. The tribochem ical studies by XPS revealed that some CaS decomposed during sliding s o that FeS and FeSO4 were produced. No such decomposition was found in the case of CaF2. The comparison of the bonding strengths of these fi llers revealed that the bonding strengths of the compounds that decomp osed were lower than that of CaF2 which did not decompose. It was conc luded that FeS and FeSO4 increased adhesion between the composite tran sfer film and the steel substrate. Furthermore, the ability of the fil lers to help in the formation of a uniform and continuous composite tr ansfer film and to promote adhesion between the transfer film and its substrate contributed to increased wear resistance.