Effect of surface reactions on steel, Al2O3 and Si3N4 counterparts on their tribological performance with polytetrafluoroethylene filled composites

The influence of surface reactions on the tribo-performance of steel, Al2O3 and Si3N4 balls sliding against polytetrafluoroethylene/SiO2/epoxy composites was investigated. Al2O3 ball were found to exhibit the best tribo-performance, namely a low coefficient of friction and the lowest wear rates of both the composites and the counterpart ball, when sliding against the PTFE filled composites. The difference in the tribo-performance of the Al2O3 ball and the Si3N4 ball can neither be attributed to the different morphology of the worn composite surfaces nor to the amount of PTFE transferred onto the wear surfaces. Instead we found that the friction is greatly reduced in the case of the Al2O3 ball because two fluoro-terminated surfaces are sliding over each other; in fact, the formation of AlF bonding was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.