Abstract
Friction and wear tests of sintered α-SiC were conducted from room temperature to 1200°C both in air and vacuum. The coefficient of friction was larger in air than that in vacuum but was almost independent of the temperature. The specific wear loss generally increased with an increase of temperature. However, a substantial decrease in wear loss was observed at the highest temperature for lower contact pressure tests where a thick layer of small particles was formed on the friction surface. Silicon oxide was identified in wear debris particles particularly collected from high-temperature tests. It suggests that oxidation, which is accelerated at high temperatures, generally promotes material removal, resulting in a higher wear loss. However, the wear loss could decrease when oxide-containing particles form a thick surface layer.
