Triboreactions of graphite with moisture—a new model of triboreactor for integrating friction and wear

In order to account for the influence of environment on the frictional properties of graphite, a new model of tribocontact considering the confined volume under the pin as a triboreactor is proposed. The heart of the reactor is the mechanical production of debris displaying fresh prismatic surfaces. Both the rate of formation and the rate of deactivation of these latter are influenced by the environment and are mutually influencing each the other. The model combines three distinct mechanisms, seldom considered before: (a) the one step embrittlement of graphite governed by the amount of moisture within the contact; (b) the kinetics of water adsorption outside the contact, considered to obey the Elovich equation; (c) the triboreactions between the water and the active surfaces associated with the prismatic surfaces of the graphite debris. The validity of the model is supported by various experimental results.