Fretting wear behavior of acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) for mechanical seal applications

The fretting wear behavior of acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) was studied. The variation of fretting running behavior, coefficient of friction (COF) and wear mechanisms as a function of displacement amplitude and load were discussed in detail. Results showed that the sticky layers on the worn surface played an important role in fretting wear. Various damage characteristics could be exhibited in different fretting running regimes, and the fretting characteristics were strongly dependent on the displacement amplitude. However, the normal load had little effect on the evolution of the fretting wear. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that no thermal degradation occurred in rubber during fretting tests.