Friction and Wear Behaviour of Graphite Filled Polymer Composites in Hydrogen Environment

Abstract

High performance polymer composites have been intensively investigated for tribological applications in air, but rarely in hydrogen environment. Author’s previous benchmark of composites in liquid hydrogen (LH₂) showed that graphite filled polymers have beneficial friction behaviour in this extreme condition. Therefore, further investigations have been undertaken in hydrogen environment. This paper presents first results obtained with polyimide composites filled with different types (natural, synthetic) and amounts of graphite in air, vacuum and hydrogen environments. A particular attention is taken to the influence of hydrogen on graphite as well as on the polymer matrix.