Friction and Wear Pattern of Silica-Reinforced Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR) in Sliding Contact with a Blade Indenter

This study investigated the friction and wear pattern of silica-reinforced Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SBR) in sliding friction with a steel blade indenter. The experiments were conducted using a pin-on-disc tribometer at various applied loads and examined under dry and wet contact conditions. Analysis was focused on investigating the coefficient of friction and length of wear pattern spacing. Related to coefficient of friction identification, the abrasion theory was applied here. In addition, the stick-slip theory to identify the wear pattern spacing was also applied. Results of the experiments show that the overall coefficient of friction (COF) decreases along with the increasing applied loads. The COF in wet conditions is much lower at the beginning of sliding time than the COF in dry conditions. The wear pattern spacing increases with increasing loads. However, it seems that there is no significant difference in pattern spacing between the dry and wet contact condition. In general, the experimental results agree qualitatively with the analytical results.