Experimental study on tribological properties of PTFE and glass reinforced PTFE-C15 for skid transport of heavy structures

Abstract Efficient transportation requires minimal frictional resistance. Skidding has become an alternative method of transporting heavy structures in recent years. The static coefficient of friction plays an important role in determining whether the piston force in the thrust direction is sufficient to counteract the horizontal frictional force caused by the structure’s weight. This study aimed to determine various static coefficient of friction values for PolyTetraFluoroEthylene (PTFE) and glass-reinforced PTFE-C15 materials on steel skids. The research presents the influence of lubrication and the reduction of surface roughness on the static coefficient of friction. We designed six combinations of experiments for 10 repetitions for PTFE and PTFE-C15 under dry, oiled, and oil lubrication with added weight conditions. An inclined plane method was used to investigate and compare the coefficients of friction values of pure PTFE and glass-reinforced PTFE-C15 materials on a steel surface. The steel surface roughness was reduced by grinding to an average Ra value of 2.8 to minimize adhesion, which created a vacuum effect during the test. The application of added weight onto the specimens overcame the vacuum effect. PTFE-C15 in oil lubrication with added weight demonstrated the lowest coefficient of friction. However, it is noteworthy that pure PTFE had better performance than PTFE-C15 when both were oil-lubricated. These results provide essential data for precise engineering calculations to determine the required piston force and total number of pistons for loading heavy structures.