Tribological Performance of Copper-Titanium Alloy under Dry Sliding Contact

Abstract

Abstract Frictional heating leads to sparking and excessive wear of components in engineering applications. Until now, copper-beryllium alloys have been used extensively in frictional contacts where nonsparking ability is desired. However, copper-beryllium creates an inhalation hazard when there is exposure to the dust or fumes from beryllium metal, metal oxides. Besides nonsparking ability, an environmentally friendly alternate material having equally good electrical and tribo-mechanical properties needs to be developed. In achieving the objective of this article, tribological properties of copper titanium alloy as an alternative under dry sliding contact were investigated and compared. Experiments were conducted on copper-titanium alloy having 2 % and 4.2 % titanium sliding against an EN-31 disk using a pin-on-disk apparatus. Taguchi-based design of experiments was used to find out significance of parameters and their effect on friction coefficient and wear rate. The microstructure was studied for distribution of titanium powder in alloy and its effect on grain distribution vis-à-vis tribo-properties using scanning electron microscopy analysis. It was found that the coefficient of friction decreases as titanium concentration and velocity increase. Titanium concentration has a significant effect on reducing wear. Results are indicative for potential use of copper-titanium alloy instead of copper-beryllium alloy. Because copper-titanium is a more recent material, its tribological properties are yet to be researched. Apparently, hardly any literature is available exclusively in this type of application.