FRACTAL ANALYSIS OF RUBBER WEAR SURFACES AND DEBRIS

The wear surface and debris of three rubber compounds (NR, PBD and NR/PBD/SBR), worn on a modified blade abrader, were fractal. The fractal dimension of the wear surface was: (1) limited to a finite range, and if the wear mechanism remained the same; (2) independent of the wear load; and (3) the basis for creating a master fractal plot by a shift factor that (4) decreased linearly with wear load. The fractal dimension of wear was determined on the basis of profilometer traces and showed that the wear load affected the scale of the wear process. The fractal dimension of the debris also increased with the wear load and is thought to be a function of the agglomeration mechanism during wear.