Applied Technology

Progress Made in Friction and Wear of Ti3SiC2

A study by researchers from the State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS on the friction and wear of thermal oxidation-treated Ti3SiC2 showed that thermal oxidation-treated Ti3SiC2 has excellent friction and wear properties. Ti3SiC2 was thermally oxidized under 1000℃ for 10 hours and an oxide scale about 25μm thick was formed, which was composed of two sub-layers with different composition and microstructure. The micro-hardness of thermal oxidation-treated Ti3SiC2 reached as high as 10.28GPa. The tribological behavior of Ti3SiC2 and thermal oxidation-treated Ti3SiC2 sliding against Si3N4 at 25℃ and 600 °C was investigated. Results indicated that at both 25℃ and 600 °C, the tribological behavior of thermal oxidation-treated Ti3SiC2 is better than that of Ti3SiC2. Researchers found that the tribological behavior of thermal oxidation-treated Ti3SiC2 is controlled by two competing wear mechanisms, which are the fracture and spalling of Ti3SiC2 grains and friction-induced oxidation. The oxide scale formed after thermal oxidation significantly improved the tribological performance of Ti3SiC2. This research result was published in Tibol. Lett. (Tribol. Lett. (2010) 37:59–67）recently.