FRICTION AND WEAR CHARACTERISTICS OF PHENOLIC RESIN SILICA HYBRID MATERIALS

The friction and wear characteristics of organic/inorganic hybrid mate rials composed of phenolic resin and silica have been studied. Uniform hybrid materials were prepared by in situ polymerization of silicon a lkoxide in phenolic resin. The hybrid materials exhibit low friction a nd low wear characteristics over a wide range of high PV conditions ( = 100 similar to 6000 kg/cm(2).m/min) compared with those of phenolic resin. On the contrary, at lower PY (PV< 100) values the hybrids and p henolic resin exhibit quite similar frictional behaviors in both wet a nd dry conditions. When PV> 1000, the friction coefficient of the hybr id falls below 0.1. Ln addition, an almost 2.5-fold increase in the li miting PV value, coupled with a significant decrease in the wear rate, are observed for the hybrid. Furthermore, the hybrid exhibits good th ermostability during the friction measurements. These considerable imp rovements in the tribological properties have been attributed to the e ffect of the incorporated silica (>3.5 wt%, nanometer sizes) homogeneo usly dispersed in the hybrid.