Low Friction Sliding Planes of Greased PTFE for High Contact Pressures

Abstract

Sliding planes of PTFE are commonly used because of their excellent tribological properties. However, especially in cases of high contact pressures, PTFE suffers from its comparatively poor mechanical properties. This paper presents a sliding construction developed within an innovative experimental test-setup to enable experimental investigation of large-scale concrete members subjected to punching shear. To fulfill the special demands of the new test-setup, greased, only 0.5 mm thin sheets of PTFE were used to minimize friction between the bearing construction and the test specimen. This highly effective sliding construction leads to a dynamic friction coefficient μd,max between 0.0065 and 0.0035 while the static friction coefficient μs remains below 0.0048. Simultaneously, compressive axial stresses of more than 60 MPa occur. The paper highlights major aspects of the sliding plane’s development and demonstrates its sliding abilities.