Tribological behavior of the carbon fiber reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) composite coating under dry sliding and water lubrication

Carbon fiber reinforced polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) composite coatings (the mass fraction of the carbon fiber varied from 1 to 5 wt%) were prepared by flame spraying. The microstructure and physical properties of the composite coating were studied. The friction and wear characteristics of the PPS coating and carbon fiber reinforced PPS composite coating under dry- and water-lubricated sliding against stainless steel were comparatively investigated using a block-ring tester. The composite coatings showed lower friction coefficient and higher wear rate than pure PPS coatings under dry sliding. Under water-lubricated condition, the composite coatings showed better wear resistance than under dry. Under water-lubricated condition the tribological behaviors of the 3 wt% carbon fiber reinforced composite coating also were investigated under different sliding speed and load. The result showed that the sliding speed had little effect on the tribological properties, but the load affected greatly on that of the composite coatings. The morphologies of the worn surfaces of the composite coatings and the counterpart steel were analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), coupled with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) for compositional analysis.