Sliding wear behaviour of Ca α-sialon ceramics at 600 °C in air

• Published in: Wear Vol. 260; no. 11; pp. 1356 - 1360
• Main Authors: Xie, Z.-H., Hoffman, M., Moon, R.J., Munroe, P.R., Cheng, Y.-B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 30.06.2006; Amsterdam Elsevier Science; New York, NY
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Fracture mechanics (crack, fatigue, damage...); Friction coefficient; Friction, wear, lubrication; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Machine components; Mechanical engineering. Machine design; Microstructure; Physics; Severe wear; Sliding speed; Solid mechanics; Structural and continuum mechanics; α-sialon; Severe wear; Friction coefficient; Microstructure; α-sialon; Sliding speed; Sliding wear; Wear test; Mechanical contact; Tribological coatings; Pressure effect; Wear rate; Contact stress; Sliding contact; Sialon; Fine grain structure; Contact pressure; Ceramic materials; Room temperature; Crack; Tribology
• ISSN: 0043-1648; 1873-2577
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wear.2005.09.011

As an extension of a previous investigation on the wear behaviour of Ca α-sialon ceramics of differing microstructures at room temperature, wear testing was conducted at 600 °C in air to explore the effects of microstructure, contact pressure and sliding speed on the wear behaviour. Under all loading conditions from 1 MPa to 1 GPa, a constant high friction coefficient was observed and a severe wear process was dominant, in which the sliding contact induced cracks were observed in different microstructures. Wear particles were generated along the wear track, but no tribofilm was detected. Increasing the sliding speed from 10 to 23 cm/s was found to significantly increase wear rate. However, variations in microstructure had little impact. That is, large elongated-grained α-sialon exhibited only a slightly lower wear rate than fine equiaxed-grained α-sialon.