Frictional wear in high temperature thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers: correlation with glass transitions

Wholly aromatic thermotropic main chain liquid crystalline copolymers (LCPs) with varying glass transitions (Tg) were tested for wear resistance, particularly under high friction conditions, where surface temperatures can rise. Dynamic mechanical spectroscopy and DSC were used to characterize molecular relaxations. Three copolyester LCPs which all contain a substantial fraction of main chain 1,4-phenyl groups were chosen for this study. These included semi-crystalline Vectra® A900, a semi-crystalline LCP containing phenyl hydroquinone (phHQ–LCP), and a low crystallinity LCP containing t-butyl substituted hydroquinone (t-butylLCP). These have glass transitions of 100, 160 and 175 °C, respectively, and heat deflection temperatures (HDTs) of 170, 260 and 174 °C, respectively. HDT is dependent in part on crystallinity. The wear performance was found to depend mainly on Tg and not HDT, suggesting a microscopic failure mechanism related to the amorphous phase. This is supported by the relatively poor elevated temperature wear performance of Vectra® compared to the higher Tg LCPs. Shear strength measurements on the neat LCP resins did not correlate with wear properties of the blends, most likely because the measurements were made at room temperature and not elevated temperatures.