Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Polyimide Composites for Reducing Weight of Ultrasonic Motors

Abstract

The travelling waves ultrasonic motors (TWUM) with nonmagnetic, large torque, high precision and simple structure was driven by frictional force, which had been applied aerospace, intelligent and precise instruments. In order to reduce the total weight of TWUM, the phosphor bronze stator with the biggest density among the all parts of TWUM (8.89 g/cm3) were substituted with light weight polymer or polymer composites. This study designed and prepared one types of low density polyimide (PI) composite (1.41g/cm3) reinforced with carbon fibers (CF) which can reduce the weight of stator over 85%. Importantly, this PI composite can meet the main requirements of TWUM, such as high elastic modulus, wear resistance, and suitable friction coefficient. The output stalling torque of TWUM with CF/PI stator still have 0.22 N·m (18.3% compared with TWUM with phosphor bronze stator). Moreover, this study systematically investigated the mechanical and tribological properties of CF/PI composite. For comparison, the pure PI, polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) were also analyzed to reveal the wear mechanisms. The experimental results indicated that CF/PI had better wear resistance and lower friction coefficient than other polymer sliding against Si3N4. This light weight polymer composites would be an ideal candidate to reduce the weight of TWUM, which can broaden the lightweight application in the field of aerospace.