Abstract
Sliding friction experiments were conducted on SiC, Si3N4 B4C-TiB2 and Al2O3 ceramics under the condition of sliding contact with themselves in air. The test conditions included temperature up to 800°C., maximum surface velocity of 1.14m/min, and normal forces ranging from 4.31N(0.44kgf) to 104.57N(10.67kgf). Friction coefficient as low as 0.09 to 0.1 was obtained at 800°C for boron carbide-titanium diboride. The wear rates of Si3N4, SiC and Al2O3 ceramics increased with increasing temperature. However, the wear rate of B, C-TiB, decreased with increasing temperature. For most of the sliding pairs, the wear rate was in the range of 10-5mm3/Nm to 10-4mm3/N-m, the single exception being a value of 10-8mm3/N-m recorded for B4C-TiB2 at 800°C. The implications of wear mechanism for these results were shown.
