Ensinger thermoplastics, especially the semi-crystalline engineering and high-performance plastics like POM, PK, PA, PPA, PTFE, PPS, PEEK or PI are considered to be very good sliding and wear materials due to their low coefficient of friction. At the same time, they are light, corrosion-resistant and ensure low noise development in sliding and friction applications.
This makes them particularly interesting for future markets such as e-mobility. They are therefore ideal for applications in which friction must be taken into account.
Most plastics also offer advantages under dry running conditions due to their abrasion resistance.
If you have specific questions about friction coefficients of individual materials, please contact our specialists.
Friction occurs when there is resistance to relative movement between two surfaces. The coefficient of sliding friction is often given as a key figure for friction. The coefficient of sliding friction defines how great the frictional force is in relation to the normal force. A higher coefficient of friction means a greater frictional force. This means that the lower the coefficient of friction, the better two surfaces slide over each other.
Friction also causes wear on the respective sliding partners. Here, wear depends on material properties such as hardness and the surface condition (mainly surface roughness). Wear leads to material loss and reduces the service life of components. This can affect the efficiency of products and thus reduce performance. Thus, wear requires frequent replacement of components and leads to higher maintenance costs.
Depending on the sliding system, there are different sliding and wear mechanisms. In the case of plastics, abrasion and adhesion play a particularly important role. Abrasion means that rough surfaces of harder sliding components cause wear and material removal on softer sliding partners. Adhesion, on the other hand, depends on bonds at the surface; in particular, surface roughness and polarity play an important role in whether adhesive wear occurs.
Coefficients of friction are often given as values in tables, but these values are always approximate because the coefficient of friction depends on many different factors (material pairing, surface, lubrication, temperature, humidity, wear, normal force, etc.), so the coefficient may differ from model tests in practice. At the very least, the system parameters of the model test should always be included.
The most accurate results are obtained from a test under real conditions. Here, too, however, it should be noted that the ratios between the test and the real application can change.
To complement our products, we offer a comprehensive range of processing methods as well as customised profiles and tubes to meet your individual requirements for your finished part.
For detailed information, please contact us via our contact form.