Study on friction and wear properties of stainless steel and the metal-impregnated carbon materials used as collector shoe in subway

The influences of electric current, sliding speed, and loading force on the friction and wear properties of stainless steel specimens and the metal-impregnated carbon materials used as collector shoe in subway were studied on pin-on-disk high speed friction and wear tester. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the three-dimensional topography profiler were used to observe and analyze the wear surface of the specimens. The results show that, the friction coefficient of contact pair decreases with the increase of electric current and increases with the increases of sliding speed and loading force. The abrasion loss of metal-impregnated carbon used as collector shoe increases with the increases of electric current, sliding speed, and loading force. The surface roughness of contact pair shows the same variation trend as the abrasion loss with the increases of electric current, sliding speed, and loading force.