Tribological Performance of Ni₃Al Self-Lubricating Composites with Different Content of TiC at Elevated Temperature

Abstract

Ni₃Al-MoS₂-TiC composites (NMTC) were fabricated using spark plasma sintering. The effect of TiC content on tribological properties and antiwear mechanisms of NMTC at high temperatures was investigated. The results showed that NMTC containing 10 wt% MoS₂ and 6 wt% TiC exhibited the excellent tribological properties from 25 to 600°C. At 400°C, NMTC had the lowest friction coefficient of 0.28 and the considerable lower wear rate of 3.02 × 10⁻⁵ mm³ N⁻¹ m⁻¹. The excellent tribological properties of NMTC were attributed to the synergetic action of the lubricant-phase MoS₂ and reinforcing-phase TiC.

KEY WORDS:

• Self-Lubrication Friction
• Self-Lubricating Composites
• Solid Lubricants
• Wear Mechanisms

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the Material Research and Testing Center of Wuhan University of Technology for their assistance.

FUNDING

This work was supported by the Nature Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2012FFB05104); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51275370); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2014-yb-004); the Project for Science and Technology Plan of Wuhan City (2013010501010139); the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University; the Academic Leader Program of Wuhan City (201150530146); and the Project for Teaching and Research project of Wuhan University of Technology (2012016).