Wear Behaviors of Three Typical Bulk Metallic Glasses in Bearing Applications

Abstract

In bearing applications, the development of new materials has become a focus of scientific research in order to make bearing systems smaller and rotate more accurately. Bulk metallic glass (BMG), which has high strength, stiffness and resistance to corrosion, is becoming a promising candidate for bearing and shaft materials. When used as shafts, the friction feature of BMG needs to be evaluated comprehensively. In this work, the friction and wear properties of Ni-based, Zr-based, and Cu-based BMGs sliding against brass lubricated with lithium grease were investigated, using traditional bearing materials (GCr15 steel) as comparison. The results showed that the wear mechanism of the BMGs was primarily abrasive, supplemented by an adhesive wear behavior when sliding against brass plates, just like GCr15 steel. The wear loss of the friction pair (brass plates) increases when the applied normal load increases and the sliding speed decreases. Compared with GCr15 steel, BMGs exhibit better friction performance at low sliding speed, and Ni-based BMG always exhibits a smaller wear loss, especially under large load and low sliding speed. The wear loss of brass plates against Ni-based BMG pin is 24.3% lower than that against GCr15 steel under an applied load of 10 kg, which indicates that Ni-based BMG is an attractive bearing and shaft material for industrial application.