Tribological, rheological and mechanical characterization of polymer blends for ropes and nets

The tribological characterization of polymers is becoming popular due to the wide range of applications of these materials where friction and wear characteristics are relevant (e.g., packaging, medical, fishing). Microabrasion, a new tribo-testing system is particularly interesting, as tests are easy to perform and are highly reproducible. This work reports the mechanical and tribological characterization of polyethylene/polypropylene blends for filament manufacture. In view of marine related applications, microabrasion wear tests were performed under various sliding conditions-dry, aqueous and slurry. Sliding friction was also evaluated. The possible wear mechanisms and the polymers systems having better tribological performance were identified. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.