Windings in superconducting magnets operating at 4.2 K are highly susceptible to quenching caused by small frictional heat inputs. Small movements in the magnet system are inevitable during ramping due to the increasing electromagnetic forces. Friction pairs of polymer based materials have been investigated at 4.2 K to gain an understanding of their sliding behavior in conditions representative of superconducting MRI systems. The results indicate that polymer-polymer pairs experience unstable sliding behavior with repeated stick-slip whereas polymer-aluminum couples have stable sliding behavior up to high contact pressures of 20 MPa.
The sliding performance of PEEK composites was investigated in vacuum environment. Tests were performed with carbon fibre reinforced PEEK composites filled with PTFE, and MoS2 or graphite as further solid lubricant. Polymer samples were tested in a pin-on-disc configuration continuously sliding against CrNi-steel. Depending on sliding speed and temperature, the MoS2 filled composites showed high wear resistance and friction coefficients as low as PVD coatings.
High performance polymer composites have been intensively investigated for tribological applications in air, but rarely in hydrogen environment. Author's previous benchmark of composites in liquid hydrogen (LH2) showed that graphite filled polymers have beneficial friction behaviour in this extreme condition. Therefore, further investigations have been undertaken in hydrogen environment. This paper presents first results obtained with polyimide composites filled with different types (natural, synthetic) and amounts of graphite in air, vacuum and hydrogen environments. A particular attention is taken to the influence of hydrogen on graphite as well as on the polymer matrix.