A study on frictional behavior of PMMA against FDTS coated silicon as a function of load, velocity and temperature

• Frictional behavior of PMMA against FDTS coated Si wafer was investigated.
• Co-relations of friction coefficient with load and velocity were established.
• Friction induced temperature was estimated.
• Effect of friction induced temperature on tribological behavior of PMMA was studied.

Rapid developments of soft polymeric materials have inspired for a better understanding of their tribological characteristics. The tribological behavior of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) against 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane [CF3(CF2)7(CH2)2SiCl3] (FDTS) coated silicon (Si) substrate (F-Si) as a function of the applied-temperature, load and sliding velocity was studied and reported in this paper. It was observed that friction coefficient vs. applied-temperature curves follow the viscoelastic behavior of PMMA, which indicates that molecular relaxation of PMMA is the dominating factor of its tribological properties at temperature below its glass transition temperature (Tg). Furthermore, consistent shifts of friction coefficient vs. temperature curves toward low temperatures with increase in load in addition to sliding velocity further signified, the importance of friction induced-temperature on the tribological properties of PMMA.