Fundamentals of Tribology - Correlation between Wear Characteristics and Material Properties - (FUNDTRIBO)

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Alois K. Schlarb
• Subject Area: Preparatory and Physical Chemistry of Polymers
• Term: from 2008 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 68830363

The investigation about the fundamentals of triblogy deals with three different effects regarding wear and friction phenomena. In wear experiments on large-, macro- and nano-scale, the differences and similarities between the wear mechanisms of different scales will be examined and compared. The nano-scale tests are carried out with a atomic force microscope (AFM) in order to find basics about the wear characteristics. The stress and energy dissipating factors inside the polymer material are investigated by FEM simulations. An artificial neural network (ANN) based software tool correlates wear results and materials properties. The overall aim of this project is the prediction of the wear behavior of different nano-particle reinforced polyetheretherketone (PEEK) composite materials based on the gained experimental results on large-, macro- and nano-scales.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Belgium, Spain, Switzerland
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Patrick de Baets; Professor Dr. Andrea Danani; Dr. Amaya Igartua