Title: Tribological behaviour of laser coated thermoplastic polyurethane sliders used in lift installations

Authors: M. Rombouts; José Ramon Valdes; Raul Monge; Jose Alberto Roig

Addresses: Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (VITO), Department of Materials Technology, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium. ' Instituto Tecnologico de Aragon (ITA), Maria de Luna 7-8, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain. ' Instituto Tecnologico de Aragon (ITA), Maria de Luna 7-8, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain. ' Mac-Puar, S.A, Poli. Ind. El Aguila, Ctra De Logrono 14-20, 50180 Utebo (Zaragoza), Spain

Abstract: This paper presents the effect of a polyamide coating on the tribological behaviour of thermoplastic polyurethane guide shoes used in lift installations. Polyamide coatings with a good bonding and low porosity were obtained by laser deposition. The tribological performance of the coatings has been evaluated during labscale testing, accelerated prototype testing and prototype testing under real conditions. The energy consumption of the lift installation and the wear rate in dry and lubricated conditions was evaluated. It was shown that in real working conditions, it is possible to obtain energy consumption and wear rate values under dry conditions using polyamide laser deposited sliders that are similar to the current solution using untreated TPU sliders with full lubrication.

Keywords: tribological behaviour; laser deposition; polymer sliders; thermoplastic polyurethane; lift installations; lifts; elevators; tribology; polyamide coatings; guide shoes; energy consumption; wear rate; lubrication.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSURFSE.2012.049911

International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering, 2012 Vol.6 No.4, pp.257 - 269

Received: 11 Sep 2011
Accepted: 21 Dec 2011
Published online: 21 Aug 2014 *

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