Effect of frictional heating on the surface-layer structure and tribological properties of titanium nickelide

• Published in: Physics of metals and metallography Vol. 112; no. 3; pp. 290 - 300
• Main Authors: Korshunov, L. G., Pushin, V. G., Chernenko, N. L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht SP MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica 01.09.2011; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alloys; Analysis; Chemistry and Materials Science; Materials Science; Mechanical properties; Metallic Materials; Oxides; Strength and Plasticity; Titanium; Tribology; alloy; structural transformations upon wear; Ni; tribological properties; Ti; frictional heating
• ISSN: 0031-918X; 1555-6190
• DOI: 10.1134/S0031918X11030227

The effect of frictional heating (whose intensity was varied at the expense of changes in the sliding velocity from 0.35 to 9.00 m/s) on the rate of wear, friction coefficient, friction thermopower, structure, and microhardness of the Ti 49.4 Ni 50.6 alloy in a microcrystalline (MC) state with grains 20–30 μm in size and in a submicrocrystalline (SMC) state with grains 300 nm in size has been investigated. The tribological tests were conducted under the conditions of dry sliding friction in air using the finger-disk (made of steel Kh12M, hardness HRC = 63) scheme at a normal load of 98 N. Due to the frictional heating, the temperature in the surface layer 0.5 mm thick of the samples changed from 150–200 (at a sliding velocity of 0.35 m/s) to 1100°C (at a velocity of 9 m/s). The alloy structure has been studied with the help of metallographic and electronmicroscopic (scanning and transmission microscopy) methods. It has been shown that the rate of wear of the titanium nickelide in the MC and SMC structural states is more than an order of magnitude lower than in the 12Kh18N9 steel and several times less than in the 40Kh13 steel. The fracture of the friction surface of the titanium nickelide occurs predominantly by the fatigue or oxidation-fatigue mechanisms, which are characterized by a relatively low wear rate, whereas the 40Kh13 and 12Kh18N9 steels show a tendency to intense thermal adhesive wear (seizure) at velocities higher than 0.35 m/s. It has been shown by the electron-microscopic investigation that nanocrystalline structures consisting of crystals of the B 2 phase, oxides of the TiO 2 type, and some amount of martensite B 19′ are formed in the process of friction in the surface layer of the titanium nickelide. It has been concluded that an enhanced wear resistance of the titanium nickelide is caused by the high heat resistance (strength) and high fracture toughness of the nanocrystalline B 2 phase and by the presence of high-strength thermostable oxides of the TiO 2 type formed upon friction.