Friction-reducing coatings and interlayers will be used during the construction of various technical structures. This is a thin sliding layer that reduces friction between structural components or with external systems and extends its service life. As the coating, polymers and composite materials are used, which have higher wear resistance. They are widely used in components of bridge structure support components. The reliability and durability of the structure depends on the correct choice of friction-reducing materials. To simplify this process, scientists from Perm University of Technology conducted a series of numerical experiments and compared the deformation behavior of various friction-reducing coatings. The use of numerical methods will reduce time and money costs and ensure maintenance-free operation of the load-bearing part of the bridge.
A method to improve the durability of bridge support
This research published in the journal Vestnik PNRPU. project. Materials Science”. The work of Perm scientists included several stages of numerical and natural experiments. In this study, they selected two materials: polymer-γ-modified fluoroplastic; and composites-fluoroplastic with spherical bronze inclusions and molybdenum disulfide-MAK.
The friction coefficient of the material was determined on chrome-plated and polished steel plates without lubrication and lubricated at five pressure levels according to the original method of the Institute of Technology. For the compression shear test, the scientists used an MTS 316 machine with two hydraulic drives. These studies were in the laboratory "Center for Geomechanical Modeling" PNRPU Based on the experiments, scientists have determined that lubrication and load have a great influence on the friction coefficient of friction reducing materials.
"Next, with the help of numerical experiments, we studied deformation of the sliding layer of friction reducing materials with two friction options from 4 mm to 8 mm: considering and not considering the lubricant in the hole. The grooves are used to hold the lubricant on the surface of the sliding layer and actively lubricate the mating surface. Under load, the geometry of the hole will deform.
We found that there are actually no grooves for lubrication regardless of the thickness and frictional properties of the composite layer. During deformation, part of the surface of the hole begins to contact the steel plate. This is not observed in polymer materials, as its intermediate layer is not very prone to deforming for all options for sliding layer thickness,” Yury Nosov, graduate student in the Department of Computational Mathematics, Mechanics, and Biomechanics Says.
finite element model
So, scientists found that a layer of polymer material—a modified fluoroplastic—has many advantages. It is not easy to deform, so it is less loaded to contact interaction parameters.
This study by Perm scientists will expand the application of friction-reducing materials to other industries, such as engineering and aerospace. In the future, scientists plan to develop a fully automated computer program to build a numerical model and process the research results. The development is conducted within the framework of the academic strategic leadership program "Priority-2030".
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