Theoretical study of functional thermoplastics for material-integrated wear measurement in plain bearings and guide rails

Abstract The efficiency and reliability of tribologically stressed components, such as plain bearings and guide rails, are of central importance for industrial applications, as unplanned downtime can increase maintenance costs by up to 30%. This paper investigates the use of functional thermoplastics for direct, material-integrated wear measurement. The investigation focuses on two material systems: a polymer plain bearing made of polyamide with a PBT carbon black sensor material and a guide rail made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE). In this study, three measurement concepts – an open discrete, an open continuous and a closed continuous sensor concept – are analyzed using OpenModelica simulations. The analysis includes an investigation of the sensitivity and robustness of the measurement concepts with regard to disturbance variables such as temperature and contact resistance influences. The results show that although the discrete measurement principle is highly robust against environmental influences, it only provides binary information about the wear condition. In contrast, continuous sensor concepts enable detailed recording of the wear process and thus form the basis for predictive maintenance. The closed, continuous sensor concept offers the decisive advantage of completely eliminating measurement errors due to external contact resistances. This paper shows that the use of functional plastics makes it possible to transform conventional components into self-monitoring tribological components.