This article focuses on friction and wear as they relate to polymeric materials, covering friction and wear applications for polymeric materials. The discussion covers the causes and mechanisms of friction, wear, and lubrication; different test methods developed to simulate friction and wear mechanisms; and friction and wear test data used for polymeric materials.

This chapter discusses the basic principles of friction and the factors that must be considered when determining its effect on moving bodies in contact. It provides an extensive amount of friction data, including static and kinetic friction coefficients for numerous combinations of engineering materials and coatings. It also describes the causes and effects of the most common forms of wear, the conditions under which they occur, the role of lubrication, and wear testing methods.

This chapter concerns itself with the tribology of ceramics, cermets, and cemented carbides. It begins by describing the composition and friction and wear behaviors of aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, and zirconia. It then compares and contrasts the microstructure, properties, and relative merits of cermets with those of cemented carbides.

This chapter covers the tribological properties of stainless steel and other corrosion-resistant alloys. It describes the metallurgy and microstructure of the basic types of stainless steel and their suitability for friction and wear applications and in environments where they are subjected to liquid, droplet, and solid particle erosion. It also discusses the tribology of nickel- and cobalt-base alloys as well as titanium, zinc, tin, aluminum, magnesium, beryllium, graphite, and different types of wood.

This chapter reviews the types of friction that are of concern in tribological systems along with their associated causes and effects. It discusses some of the early discoveries that led to the development of friction laws and the understanding that friction is a system effect that can be analyzed based on energy dissipation. It describes the stick-slip behavior observed in wiper blades, the concept of asperities, and the significance of the shape, lay, roughness, and waviness of surfaces in sliding contact. It explains how friction forces are measured and how they are influenced by speed, load, and operating environment. It also covers rolling contact and fluid friction and the effect of lubrication.

This chapter discusses the effect of friction and lubrication on forgings and forging operations. The discussion covers lubrication mechanisms, the use of friction laws, tooling and process parameters, and the lubrication requirements of specific materials and forging processes. The chapter also describes several test methods for evaluating lubricants and explains how to interpret associated test data.

This chapter covers common types of erosion, including droplet, slurry, cavitation, liquid impingement, gas flow, and solid particle erosion, and major types of wear, including abrasive, adhesive, lubricated, rolling, and impact wear. It also covers special cases such as galling, fretting, scuffing, and spalling and introduces the concepts of tribocorrosion and biotribology.

This chapter discusses the factors that must be considered when selecting a lubricant for sheet metal forming operations. It begins with a review of lubrication regimes and friction models. It then describes the selection and use of sheet metal forming lubricants, explaining how they are applied and removed and how their pressure and temperature ranges can be extended by performance enhancing additives. The chapter also explains how sheet metal forming lubricants are evaluated in the laboratory as well as on the production floor and how tribological tests are conducted to simulate stamping, deep drawing, ironing, and blanking operations.

This chapter begins with a brief review of the different types of surface treatments and coatings used in industry and their effect on properties and performance. It then discusses the importance of corrosion and wear treatments and the consequences of failing to properly implement them in critical industries such as mining, energy production, transportation, and mineral and chemical processing. The chapter also describes basic approaches to dealing with corrosion and wear in steel.

This chapter is a detailed account of the general characteristics and effects of and the methods for preventing or reducing different categories of wear failures, namely abrasive (erosive, grinding, and gouging), adhesive, and fretting wear.

The design of case-hardened components is an iterative process, requiring the consideration of multiple interrelated factors. This chapter walks readers through the steps involved in selecting an appropriate material and assessing the influence of alloy composition and cooling rate on core properties including hardenability, microstructure, tensile and yield strength, ductility, toughness, and fatigue resistance. It likewise explains how carbon affects case hardenability, surface hardness, and case toughness and how case depth influences residual stresses and bending and contact fatigue. It also discusses the effect of quenching methods and addresses the issue of distortion.

This chapter introduces the concepts of mechanical properties and the various underlying metallurgical mechanisms that can be used to alter the strength of materials. The mechanical properties discussed include elasticity, plasticity, creep deformation, fatigue, toughness, and hardness. The strengthening mechanisms covered are solid-solution strengthening, cold working, and dispersion strengthening. The effect of grain size on the yield strength of a material is also discussed.

This chapter reviews and provides data tables for the wide range of properties and performance characteristics that are possible with specific aluminum casting alloys and tempers. Properties and performance attributes addressed include casting and finishing characteristics; typical physical properties; typical and minimum (design) mechanical properties; fatigue strength; fracture resistance, including subcritical crack growth; and resistance to general corrosion and to stress-corrosion cracking. The chapter concludes with information on the properties of cast aluminum matrix composites.

This article covers the thermal analysis and thermal properties of engineering plastics with respect to chemical composition, chain configuration, and/or conformation of the base polymers. The thermal analysis techniques covered are differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, thermomechanical analysis, and rheological analysis. The basic thermal properties covered include thermal conductivity, temperature resistance, thermal expansion, specific heat, and the determination of glass-transition temperatures. The article further describes various factors influencing the determination of service temperature of a material. Representative examples of different types of engineering thermoplastics are discussed in terms of structure and thermal properties. The article also discusses the thermal and related properties of thermoset resin systems.

This chapter covers the friction and wear behaviors of plastics and elastomers. It begins by describing the molecular differences between the two types of polymers and their typical uses. It then discusses the important attributes of engineering plastics and their suitability for applications involving friction, erosion, and adhesive and abrasive wear. It also discusses the tribology of elastomers and rubber along with their basic differences and the conditions under which they produce Schallamach waves. It includes information on polymer composites as well.

This chapter provides information on the biennial International Wear of Materials Conference, which is the inspiration for this book. It reviews the fundamentals of tribology, tribosystems, and related terminology. The glossary at the end of this chapter is intended to familiarize readers with some of the fundamental tribology terms that will be repeated throughout this book.