Al₂O₃-ZrO₂系複合焼結体の摺動摩耗特性

抄録

When ceramics are used as a slider material, both the wear resistance of ceramics themselves and no damage to the pair material are required. In high speed sliding, Y₂O₃-doped partially stabilized ZrO₂ adheres to pair materials and protects them, but ZrO₂ wears easily as compared with other ceramics. In this study, using Al₂O₃-ZrO₂ composites, we investigated the optimum condition to improve the wear resistance of ZrO₂ while protecting the pair materials. As results, in the combination with Si₃N₄, the optimum content of Al₂O₃ at which wear decreased to one-hundredths was detected. In this content, ZrO₂ and Al₂O₃ grain dispersed excellently with the grain size in the order of 0.1μm. It was confirmed that the microstructure and density of ceramics affected the wear properties. Furthermore, to consider the mechanism of wear resistance, the sliding surface observed by SEM and optical microscopy. It was estimated that the sliding mechanism differed from that of Al₂O₃ and ZrO₂ ceramics in the ZrO₂-Al₂O₃ composites.