The tribometer is applied to evaluate the friction and wear properties of various materials, such as hard coatings, hardened metals and ceramics, soft and solid lubricant materials.

The UMT-2 tribometer is able to perform pin-on-disc sliding wear tests. It applies a ball (, ceramic, WC/Co or hard steel, 6 mm in diameter) to slide on a flat surface to create a wear scar. It measures the friction coefficient under the applied testing condition. It also measures the wear coefficient (unit: m³N^-1m^-1) by means of making line profiling of the wear scar after a wear test.

The tribometer runs in either reciprocating or rotating sliding mode, at either room temperature or at elevated temperatures up to 700 °C. The tribometer can also run as sliding abrasive wear, with a pin sample sliding against SiC hard abrasives.

Figure 1: The tribometer, ball-on-disc, and a tested sample with three wear scars

Figure 2: A wear scar and its line profile, and a chart showing the friction curves.

For more information on our service, please contact us on 0114 225 3500 or at MERI@shu.ac.uk.