7 materials for improving the abrasion resistance of plastics!

There are several methods of obvious damage to the surface of plastic products, including scratches from sharp objects; Abrasion caused by abrasive friction; Surface damage that changes surface performance or gloss; Or passivate the "writing effect" caused by slight scratch of the object. The willingness to form these phenomena is that the material will yield under the action of pressing force and sliding force or transverse (lateral) force, resulting in ductile/brittle failure and scratch. In scratches, uneven surfaces produce uneven light scattering and "scratches". The solution to improve the scratch performance is to reduce the roughness of the polymer bottom surface and the scratch shoulder as much as possible, so that it can produce as little light scattering and as little scratch visibility as possible, so as to achieve high wear resistance.

Some plastics already have good wear resistance. After adding various wear additives, their wear resistance can be further improved. These additives, such as polytetrafluoroethylene, molybdenum disulfide, graphite, silicone oil, glass fiber, carbon fiber and aromatic polyamide fiber, are made of plastic composite materials with self-lubricating property, and can reduce the pressure of matching parts, thus improving the wear resistance of materials. Let's look at the materials that can improve the wear resistance of materials.

1. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, Teflon)

PTFE is the lowest friction coefficient of all additives. The PTFE molecules grinded out during the friction process will form a lubricating film on the surface of the parts. PTFE has good lubricity and wear resistance under friction shear. In high load stress, PTFE is the best additive. These high load applications include hydraulic piston ring seals and thrust washers. The most appropriate PTFE content is 15% PTFE in non-crystalline plastic and 20% PTFE in crystalline plastic.

2. Molybdenum disulfide

Another common name of molybdenum disulfide is "Moly", which is mainly used as an additive of nylon plastics. Molybdenum disulfide acts as a crystallization agent to increase the crystallinity of nylon and make nylon material produce a hard and wear-resistant surface. Molybdenum disulfide has a high affinity for metals. Once adsorbed on the metal surface, the molecules of molybdenum disulfide will fill the pores on the metal surface that can only be seen with a microscope, and make the metal surface smoother. This makes molybdenum disulfide an ideal wear-resistant additive for applications where nylon and metal rub against each other.

3. Graphite

The chemical structure of graphite is a unique lattice structure. This unique chemical structure makes graphite molecules easily slide with each other on a very small friction force. This abrasion resistance is particularly important in water environments. This characteristic makes graphite an ideal wear-resistant additive for many applications in water, such as water-paved shells, impeller and value seals

4. Polysiloxane

Polysiloxane liquid is a kind of wear-resistant additive that can move. When added to thermoplastic, the additive will slowly move to the surface of parts and form a continuous film. Polysiloxane has a wide viscosity range, and its viscosity is measured in centistokes. The viscosity of polysiloxane is more than low, and it moves to the surface of parts rapidly to provide wear-resistant properties. If the viscosity of polysiloxane is too low, it will volatilize easily and disappear from the parts quickly.   

5. Glass fiber

Glass fiber is a kind of hard fiber with high scratch resistance, so it is often mistakenly believed that the addition of glass fiber in the plastic will destroy the abrasion resistance of the plastic. Glass fiber provides a strong mechanical bonding function between polymers, so glass fiber can increase the integrity of thermoplastic structures and improve wear resistance. The reinforcement provided by glass fiber can increase the latent resistance, thermal conductivity and thermal deformation of plastics, thus significantly improving the ability of plastic to resist load and abrasion.

6. Carbon fiber

As compared with glass fiber, ferrocarbon can significantly improve the structural integrity, wear resistance, load resistance and friction resistance. Unlike glass fiber, carbon fiber is a kind of soft fiber with low scratch resistance. Carbon fiber will not scratch the friction surface of iron and steel or steel. The addition of more than 10% carbon fiber to thermoplastic will have the function of eliminating static electricity and thus overcome the static electricity problem caused by it.

7. Aromatic polyamide fiber

Aromatic polyamide fiber is also one of wear-resistant additives. Unlike glass fiber and carbon fiber, it is the softest and most scratch free fiber. This characteristic is the main advantage of aromatic polyamide fiber in wear-resistant application, especially for the fiber with scratch resistance on the surface of mating parts.