BITS Pilani

Hyderabad Campus

Exp. 8: Pin on Disk Test

OBJECTIVE:

❑ Characterizing the dry sliding friction and wear behavior of

materials using Pin On Disk Tribometer.

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Difference Between Pin on Disk and Four Ball Tester

Pin on Disc Tribometer (mainly for solids)

Four Ball Tester (mainly for lubricants)

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Contents

❑ What is Pin on disk test

❑ Experimental set up
❑ Important factors and test conditions
❑ Working procedure
❑ Wear scar, wear rate and wear volume analysis
❑ Pin on disk Testing Standards
❑ References

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

What is Pin on disk test
❖ The Pin on Disc Tester is used to test the friction and wear
characteristics of wide range of materials include composites,
polymers and ceramics etc. under various conditions.

❖ The test is performed by rotating a counter –face test disk against a

stationary test specimen pin.

❖ Wear, friction force and interface temperature can be monitored using

Tribo DATA (Data acquisition system).

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Experimental set up

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Experimental set up

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Parameters

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 Important factors and conditions
❖ Pin shape. Typically, the pin can be of any shape. Ball on disk test uses a ball pin or a lens. Flat pin or chip shaped pins can also
be used.
❖ Pin alignment. If the pin is flat ended, the alignment should be ensured, since otherwise non-uniform loading occurs resulting in
non-uniform wear and possibly overloaded conditions. The edges of the flat specimens should not be sharp, otherwise the
chipping may occur.
❖ Pin material. The choice of the pin material is very important. It should be noted, that typically, the tribological behavior for the
same pair of materials is different depending on which material is used for the pin and which material is used for the disc.
❖ Pin location. It is possible to place a pin on the top of the disk. However, in many cases the pin is pressed against the disk from
the bottom. It is typically done to avoid getting the wear particles back into contact once they are formed or to collect the wear
particles for further analysis. Due to gravity, the wear particles will be falling down.

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Working procedure of Pin on disk test
❖ Schematically, the pin on disk test is depicted in the figure above.
The stationary pin is pressed against rotating disk under the
given load. The pin can be of any shape, however, the most
popular shapes are spherical (ball or lens) or cylindrical due to
ease of alignment of such pins (flat pins are typically subject to
certain misalignment which can lead to non-uniform loading and
difficulties for theoretical analysis).
❖ During the test, the friction force, wear and temperature are
continuously monitored. A typical friction curve measurement
recorded on a pin on disk apparatus is shown in the figure below:
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Wear scar/wear rate/wear volume analysis
❖ After the test, the tested specimens were measured using a
Taylor Hobson Form Talysurf to determine the surface
roughness of the contacting part of the pin specimen.
❖ The specimens were also examined using SEM to obtain
micrographs for studies of the damage mechanisms. An
optical measuring microscope was used to acquire optical
micrographs.
❖ An optical microscope was also used to measure the
diameter of the worn surfaces of the pins and for porosity
studies of the PM materials. A micro-hardness was used to
determine hardness profiles of the pin specimens.

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Wear scar/wear rate/wear volume analysis

Wear rate = (Mass of the sample before wear test - Mass of the sample after wear
test)/sliding distance

. The material volume loss was obtained by using below equatation

where wF is the weight of the tested samples, w0 is the weight of the samples before
the sliding test, and ρA is density of test material

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 Wear scar/wear rate/wear volume analysis

❖ In the modern tribometers, the wear scars can be analyzed

using inline imaging systems, such as optical profilometers,
Atomic Force Microscopes, etc. This analysis can also be
performed several times during the test, thus giving the
opportunity to measure the wear rate, wear volume and surface
roughness evolution in time. This information can be used to
develop accurate wear models and move towards predictive
tribology.

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Pin on Disk Testing Standards

In research of materials, coatings and lubricants standardized tests are used to

improve the reproducibility and for simplicity. The data collected using standard
tests can also be used to compare the results obtained by various laboratories.
The standards in tribology were developed by ASTM, DIN as shown below.
ASTM G 99 – Standard Test method for wear testing on a pin-on-disk test
apparatus.
DIN 50324 – Testing of friction and wear.
DIN ISO 7148-1 – Testing the tribological behavior of material for sliding bearings
Part 1: Testing of bearing materials, test procedure A, pin on disk.
DIN ISO 7148-2 – Testing the tribological behavior of plastic materials for sliding
bearings, test procedure A, pin on disk.

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References

[1]. Mechano-chemical decomposition of organic friction modifiers with multiple reactive centres
induces superlubricity of ta-C, Takuya Kuwahara, Pedro A. Romero, Stefan Makowski, Volker
Weihnacht, Gianpietro Moras & Michael Moseler, Nature Communications, volume 10,
Article number: 151 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-08042-8.
[2]. Open System Tribology and Influence of Weather Condition,Yezhe Lyu, Ellen Bergseth & Ulf
Olofsson, Scientific Reports volume 6, Article number: 32455
(2016), https://doi.org/10.1038/srep32455.
[3]. Tests according to several testing standards (ASTM G99, ASTM G133, ASTM
F732): https://www.element.com/more-sectors/medical-device/pin-on-disk-wear-testing.
[4]. Friction and Wear Tests Guide

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

 BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus

THANK YOU
Pin on Disc Tribometer (mainly for solids)

Four Ball Tester (mainly for lubricants)

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus