Effects of filler crystal structure and shape on the tribological properties of PTFE composites

In this paper, effects of filler crystal structure and shape on the friction and wear properties of potassium titanate whisker (K₂Ti₄O₉ whisker, K₂Ti₆O₁₃ whisker), TiO₂ whisker and TiO₂ particle filled polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composites under dry friction conditions were studied. Meanwhile the influence of filler content, sliding duration, test speed and load were also investigated. Experimental results show that the friction coefficients of various PTFE-based composites are weakly dependent on filler shape but they are more strongly dependent on filler crystal structure. However, for improving the anti-wear property of PTFE, filler crystal structure has less importance than filler shape in the wear-reducing action of PTFE-based composites, and whisker-like filler is better than particle-like filler.