Wear Modeling of Polyethylene Based Polymer for Lubricated Conditions

Generally, the wear test of HDPE or UHMWPE under lubricated conditions needs a long time duration to obtain a detectable wear loss, because of their low wear rates. In this paper, a theoretical model which couples elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory and Reye's wear model is proposed to predict the long term wear of HDPE under lubricated conditions. Dependency of the wear on parameters including viscosity of lubricants, sliding velocity, roughness, coefficient of friction, and normal load are determined. This model is expected to reduce the time consumption of the long term wear test and may provide a helpful support for the biomedical application of the polyethylene based polymer.