Prime novelty statement
The friction and wear behavior of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) sliding against GCr15 steel and electroless Ni-P alloy coating under the lubrication of seawater was investigated and compared with that under dry sliding and lubrication of pure water and 3.5wt.% NaCl solution, which, hopefully, is to provide guidance to the tribological application of UHMWPE in seawater environment. An indirect corrosive wear mode was proposed, which is also suitable for understanding the tribological behavior of other soft materials sliding against hard corroded counterface under the lubrication of corrosive mediums. Moreover, periodic ripple abrasion patterns were observed on the worn surfaces of UHMWPE, which were often observed on the worn surface of rubbers, but rarely seen on the worn surface of plastics. Based on scanning electron microscopic (SEM) and three-dimensional (3D) profile analyses of the worn surfaces of UHMWPE, a stick-slip dynamic mechanism was proposed to illustrate the pattern abrasion of UHMWPE.