Abstract
Hot pressed silicon carbide (SiC) composites prepared with 0, 10, 30 or 50 wt% tungsten carbide (WC) are subjected to dry sliding wear against WC-Co and steel ball. In particular an attempt has been made to answer the following important questions: (i) How does the load (from 5 to 20 N) effect sliding wear behaviour of SiC-ceramics against WC-Co and steel counterbodies? (ii) Is there any effect of WC content on friction and wear characteristics of SiC ceramics? (iii) Does the dominant material removal mechanism of SiC ceramics change with the addition of WC or counterbody? (iv) What is the influence of mechanical properties on the sliding wear? Experimental results indicated that coefficient of friction (COF) for the SiC ceramics varied between 0.66 and 0.33 with change in load and counterbodies. Wear volume for SiC ceramics found approximately 6−10 times more against WC-Co as compared against steel. Wear volume changes from 2.0 × 10–3 mm3 to 1.2 × 10–2 mm3 with change in counterbodies for SiC-(10, 30 or 50 wt%) WC composite at 20 N. SiC ceramics indicated abrasion and composites reveal tribochemical wear as major material removal mechanisms. Wear is influenced by the hardness of counterbody and fracture toughness of SiC-WC composites.
Highlights
silicon carbide (SiC) based ceramics possess impressive properties like low density, high hardness, high temperature strength, and corrosion resistance and wear resistance even at higher temperature
Results from the present study indicate that the minimum amount of material is removed for SiC-50 wt% wt% tungsten carbide (WC) composites against any counterbody, which possessed the maximum fracture toughness
SiC ceramics were investigated for sliding wear behaviour against commercially available WC-Co or steel counterbody at 5 N, 10 N or 20 N load in ambient conditions using a ball-on-disk tribometer
Summary
SiC based ceramics possess impressive properties like low density, high hardness, high temperature strength, and corrosion resistance and wear resistance even at higher temperature. They are attractive for various tribological applications such as bearings, mechanical seals, nozzles, turbine parts, heat exchangers, fusion reactor, cylinder liners, and cutting tools, etc. It was found that the behaviour of SiC ceramics in sliding conditions is complex and dependent on material aspects as well as experimental parameters. Important material aspects that influence wear of ceramics are grain size, grain boundary toughness, residual stresses, hardness and fracture toughness [7−9], while influencing experimental parameters are applied load, sliding speed, environment and types of tribopairs [5, 6]. Zum-Gahr et al estimated the tribological behaviour of SiC ceramics by oxidation reactions in the presence of oxygen and/or humidity
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