Effect of Counterface on the Tribological Behavior of TiAlC at Ambient.

In this paper, we investigated the effect of counterface of AISI 52100 steel and ceramics of SiC, AlO, and SiN on the tribological behavior of TiAlC at ambient. The results showed that the tribological properties of TiAlC are strongly dependent on the counterfaces. Under present test conditions, the tribocouple of TiAlC/SiC exhibits lower coefficient of friction (CoF) 0.40, TiAlC/AISI 52100 steel shows a rising CoF from 0.1 to 0.63, both TiAlC/SiN and TiAlC/AlO tribopartners exhibit higher CoF of 1.22 in average. The TiAlC exhibits the lowest wear rate sliding against AISI 52100 steel, the wear rate of TiAlC sliding against AlO, SiN, and SiC are higher and comparable. The morphologies of the worn surfaces of the TiAlC are observed by scanning electron microscopy, and the element states are analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The wear mechanisms are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]