Wear resistance of Sm2O3-doped high alumina-based grinding medium

Abstract

The effects of Sm2O3 addition on bulk density, Vickers microhardness, wear resistance, phase compositions and microstructure of high alumina-based grinding medium have been investigated in this paper. The content of Sm2O3 varies from 0 to 2.4 wt%. The results show that adding appropriate content of Sm2O3 could improve the bulk density, Vickers microhardness and wear resistance of high alumina-based grinding medium. The XRD results show that Sm3+ could dissolve into CaAl12O19 lattice to substitute Ca2+ to form a solid solution and promoted the crystallization of CaAl12O19 further. The SEM results show that adding appropriate Sm2O3 could inhibit grain growth and reduced the grain size of alumina-based grinding medium. The wear resistance mechanism was discussed and revealed based on XRD and SEM results.