Microstructure evolution and tribological properties of acrylonitrile–butadiene rubber surface modified by atmospheric plasma treatment

For the purpose of prolonging the service life for rubber sealing elements, the frictional behavior of acrylonitrile–butadiene rubber (NBR) surface by dielectric barrier discharge plasma treatments was investigated in this paper. Surface microstructure and chemical composition were measured by atomic force microscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. Water contact angles of the modified rubber surface were also measured to evaluate the correlation between surface wettability and tribological properties. The results show that plasma treatments can improve the properties of the NBR against friction and wear effectively, the surface microstructure and roughness of plasma-modified NBR surface had an important influence on the surface tribological behavior, and the wear depth first decreased and then increased along with the change of plasma treatment time. It was found that the wettability of the modified surface was gradually improved, which was mainly due to the change of the chemical composition after the treatment. This study suggests that the plasma treatment could effectively improve the tribological properties of the NBR surface, and also provides information for developing wear-resistant NBR for industrial applications.