Tribological responses of Phenolphthalein Poly (ether sulfone) on proton irradiation

Phenolphthalein Poly (ether sulfone) (PES-C) was irradiated with 2.0 MeV protons to doses of 0, l.0 × 1014, 5.0 × 1014, 2.5 × 1015 and 5.0 × 1015 ions cm−2 respectively. To contrast the different effects of ion dose and ion energy, experiments with energies ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 MeV and fixed dose of 5.0 × 1015 ions cm−2 were also conducted. Results indicate that irradiation dose and energy have different effects on the tribological properties of PES-C. Proton irradiation increased the friction coefficient of PES-C slightly at lower doses. But when the dose reached 5.0 × 1015 ions cm−2, the increase of friction coefficient became obvious. Besides, proton irradiation decreased the wear rate when the dose reached a certain value. Especially when the dose exceeded 1015 ions cm−2, the decrease became sharp. At a higher dose, the wear rate of PES-C changed slightly with the irradiation energy. The main wear mechanism of the pure PES-C was adhesive wear, while that of the irradiated PES-C was mainly fatigue wear.