Spatiotemporal mapping for in-situ and real-time tribological analysis in polymer-metal contacts

• Main Authors: Yap, Kian Kun, Fukuda, Kanao, Vail, Jennifer Renee, Wong, Janet, Masen, Marc Arthur
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2022
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/104694/1/KanaoFukuda2022_SpatiotemporalMappingforInSituandRealTime.pdf; http://eprints.utm.my/104694/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2022.107533

Spatiotemporal mapping (SMA) is a graphical technique to visualise the evolution of data with time and space during a process. This paper discusses the benefits of SMA in the field of polymer tribology via two highly different polymer/metal sliding systems. The SMA is found useful for the qualitative and quantitative characterisation and analysis of the transfer phenomena at the contact interface during repeated sliding, e.g., the slide-roll mechanism of transfer lumps, the severe-to-mild wear transition due to the tribo-chemical reaction of PTFE, the accumulation of wear debris, and the formation of friction-reducing back-transfer polyimide films. Additionally, the SMA helps spot various abnormal tribological behaviours, such as the local removal of oxides on a misaligned disc that would otherwise be overlooked.