Tribological Properties of Cu Based Friction Composites with In Situ Synthesized TiC Filler

Abstract

The Cu based friction composites using graphite as solid lubricant with different weight rations of Ti, i.e. 8 wt.%, 12 wt.%, 16 wt.%, 20 wt.%, were sintered by powder metallurgy (P/M) method. The structure of the composites was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the tribological properties was studied on block-on-ring tester. XRD results verified presence of TiC phase which was in-situ synthesized through reaction of Ti and graphite in the composites, and the content of TiC was increased with the increased Ti content. The in-situ synthesized TiC phase which was fine and distributed uniformly improved tribological properties of Cu based friction composites significantly. The hardness, wear rates and friction coefficient of composites were increased with increasing amount of in-situ synthesized TiC.