ABSTRACT
There is an increasing demand to reduce the abrasion of engineering surfaces caused by sand particles. The present work discusses the application of recycled polymers to coat the moving surfaces of bearings, gears and other machine elements to resist abrasion and pitting. The friction and abrasion resistance of the recycled polymers were investigated. The purpose of using recycled polymers is to reduce the pollution and clean the environment.
 
Friction and abrasive wear resistance of virgin and recycled as well as the mixtures of polymeric coatings such as low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polypropylene (PP) were tested.
 
The test results showed that, friction coefficient displayed by virgin LDPE coatings was lower than that observed for recycled coatings. The virgin LDPE coatings displayed higher wear than the recycled ones. Friction coefficient of 100 % recycled HDPE coatings displayed the lowest friction. Wear resistance of coatings containing recycled polymer was much better than that observed for virgin HDPE. Besides, recycled PVC coatings showed the lowest friction values. Virgin PVC coatings experienced the lowest wear. Generally, the wear of PVC coatings was much lower than the other tested polymers. Friction coefficient displayed by recycled PP displayed lower values than virgin one, where the wear showed relatively higher values than that observed for the other tested polymers.