Pin-On-Disc Characterization of Brass/Ferritic and Pearlitic Ductile Iron Rubbing Pair

Abstract

Wear behaviour of special brass produced through two different methods (centrifugal and sand casting) was investigated. The wear tests were carried out at sliding velocities of 0.2 ms–1, 0.3 ms–1, 0.4 ms–1 and 0.5 ms–1 and under 10 N, 20 N, and 40 N variable loads. The sliding distance was 600 m for all the tests. A pin-on-disc device with round specimen inserts was used to conduct friction and wear tests in which the friction coefficient, the contact temperature and the linear wear of the tribo-pairs were continuously recorded against sliding distance. Two different materials were used as the counterparts, namely ferritic ductile iron equivalent to GGG40 and pearlitic ductile iron equivalent to GGG60. The microstructures and wear scars of the brass specimens were examined by optical, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray microanalyses by EDAX. A correlation between hardness and wear volume rate was established for the investigated centrifugally cast and sand cast brass specimens. The volume rate of specimens produced by sand casting method was generally found to be higher than those of centrifugally cast specimens. Ferritic ductile counterpart led to higher wear volume rate than pearlitic ductile counterpart for the both specimens. Severe abrasive wear scars were observed for the sand cast specimens/ferritic ductile iron pair. However, severe adhesive wear took place for the centrifugally cast specimen/pearlitic ductile iron pair.