Rotational Cone Tribometer (Rct) For Approaching The Tribological Behavior Of Hard And Soft Sealing Materials Under Dynamic Line Contact

Rotational cone tribometer (RCT) was developed to study the tribological behavior in close to application contact conditions. RCT allows testing of a sample with line contact and also allows direct installation of a radial shaft seal. The RCT test evaluates, on one hand, the frictional behavior of a material sample in line contact, aiding material development for better tribological performance. On the other hand, it is also used to evaluate the frictional behavior of a ready manufactured sealing component. To assess the performance of the tribometer, differently manufactured thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) samples were analyzed in sliding contact against a steel contact partner in a sliding speed range of 1.10(-3) m.s(-1) till 2 m.s(-1). The effect of the morphology of TPU on the tribological behavior is studied.