Abstract
Sliding wear studies on different polyimide (PI) formulations against hardened, smooth steel were conducted using a pin-on-ring testing facility. Contact pressure
p was varied in such a way that for three different sliding velocities
v (0.6, 1.5 and 3.0 m s
−1) two
pv levels could be maintained (1.7 and 5.0 MPa m s
−1). The best results were achieved with a PI formulation containing 15 wt% graphite filler and 10 wt% fluorocarbon resin having a wear factor
k
0
∗ ≈ 4.3 × 10
−7
mm
3
N
−1
m
−1
. This material was also superior to newly developed high performance thermoplastics, in particular polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and thermotropic liquid crystal polymers (LCP), even when the latter contained about 20 vol.% of short glass or carbon fibre reinforcement.