Tribological properties of the Stellite 6 cobalt alloy implanted with manganese ions

Abstract

The rapid development of automotive technology requires that designers should use modern materials. Materials used to construct the most heavily loaded components such as the components of internal combustion engines are often subjected to various treatments to enhance their mechanical properties. One of the well-known methods for modification of material in terms of tribological properties is ion implantation. The samples were implanted using manganese ions. The distribution of implanted ions and vacancies at various depths was calculated by the SRIM program. The implantation process was run with the energy E = 175 keV, and the dose of implanted ions was set to D = 5⋅1016 Mn+/cm2 and D = 1⋅1017 Mn+/cm2. Next, the samples were subjected to tribological tests on a pin-on-disc stand using the Nano Tribometer (NTR2) manufactured by Anton Paar. As a counter sample, we used a ball with a diameter 0.5 mm made of WC (tungsten carbide). A load of 0.5 N was applied to the ball. As a result, we determined variations in the friction coefficient for individual samples under dry friction conditions. Next, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was conducted using a Phenom ProX microscope. The wear trace was measured using the Taylor Hobson Form Talysurf 50mm Intra profile measurement gauge. The measurements provided profilograms facilitating determination of the mean wear and the depth of the wear trace. The implantation of manganese leads to a change in the friction coefficient and tribological wear of the Stellite 6 cobalt alloy.