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

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.