Sliding wear/friction equipment here at Southampton:
- Pin-on-disc test rigs (x2) - one low speed (10 to 240 rpm) and a load of 40 to 500N and the other high speed (100 to 3000 rpm) and a load of 2 to 250N. Both work at ambient temperatures
- Twin disc roller tribometer - fully computer controlled with a slide to roll ratio of 0:100%, a maximum speed of 3000 rpm, load capabilities up to 12 kN and capable of handling temperatures up to 150°C. The machine has both point contacts and line contacts
- Reciprocating wear rig - fully computer controlled with a frequency range of 2 to 50 Hz, stroke of 0.2 to 25 mm, loading of 5 to 1000 N and capable of handling temperatures up to 600°C. Takes ball on a plate (point contact), cylinder on a plate (line contact) and area contact and meets test standards ASTM D 5706, ASTM D 5707, ASTM D 6079 and ISO/DIN 12156-2
- Mini Traction Machine (MTM) - uses various types of contact (hard, soft, rough) and has a controlled variable sliding-rolling speed. Capable of a vast range of loads from 0.1N to -50N and a temperature range of -50°C to 150°C. Can be used to measure coefficients of friction, Stribeck curves, wear (using a pin-on-disc adapter kit), traction under EHD, mixed and boundary lubricant, boundary additive performance, and friction under transient conditions.
Other equipment available to the group through the National Physics Laboratory:
- High speed (50 Hz) reciprocating wear and friction test system (Plint TE77)
- Low speed (>10-3 mS-1) pin/ball-on-disc wear and friction test system
- High speed (<5 mS-1) pin/ball-on-disc wear and friction test system
- Pin-on-disc test system for simulation of metalworking under hot work vpiece/cold due conditions
- High temperature (<1500°C) reciprocating or scratch testing system (air atmosphere)
- Micro-tribology test system for in-situ use in SEM; loads from 1 mN to 100 mN
- Pin-on-disc test system optimised for evaluation of sensors for determination of degradation of surfaces subjected to wear. Speeds up to 2 m/s and test loads up to 500N.
