STUDY THE EFFECT OF FILLER DISPERSION ON THE STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF ULTRA-HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT POLYETHYLENE

Abstract

With the purpose of studying the effects of filler dispersion on the structure, mechanical and tribological properties of composite materials based on Ultra-high molecular weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), we have used Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) with different sizes. The experimental results showed that when adding small filler (Ø 10 µm) structure of composites is more homogeneous, mechanical properties decrease less and the wear resistance under dry sliding friction is higher 2 times than adding large filler (Ø 100-180 µm). Identified the best weight content of filler to increase the wear resistance for composites based on UHMWPE. The obtained results in order to overcome the limitations of structure and elongation, tensile strength of composites were discussed.