Tribochemistry of Sugar Mill Roller Shaft Materials

Study of laboratory simulated conditions of tribological behavior of sugar mill roller shaft has shown that the cracks initiated on the surface were consequences from the tribological phenomenon at the sliding interface. The contaminated interface with sugar cane juice and dried waste called bagasse resulted in a tribofilm which played important role in the sliding behavior. The work was undertaken to characterize wear debris formed and study the tribochemical reactions during sliding wear of shaft material EN8 against E52100 steel under different sliding conditions. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) was used for understanding of physical and chemical changes of shaft material caused by friction. Debris analysis suggests that the compositional changes within the wear particles accelerate the wear.