Effects of Additives on the Microstructure and Tribology Performance of Ta-12W Alloy Micro-Arc Oxidation Coating

Oxide ceramic coatings were fabricated on tantalum alloys by micro-arc oxidation (MAO) to improve their hardness and tribological properties. The MAO coatings were manufactured in a mixed silicatephosphate electrolyte containing NaF and/or EDTA (ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid). The surface morphology,cross-sectional view, chemical composition, hardness, and wear performance of the coatings were analysed. As revealed by the scanning electron microscopy, silica-rich nodules appear on the MAO coating obtained in the silicate-phosphate electrolyte, but the formation of nodules is inhibited with NaF and/or EDTA in the electrolyte.Also, they reduce the roughness and improve the compactness of the coatings, which are composed of Ta_(2)O_(5),(Ta, O), and TaO. A thick and hard coating is obtained in the NaF-containing electrolyte, and the tribology performance is effectively improved. With additives, the nodule structure is detached from the coating surface and dissolved in the electrolyte. By using NaF as an electrolyte additive, the abrasion performance of the MAO coating is enhanced by decreasing the nodule structure, increasing the size of micropores, and improving the coating hardness.

Effect of solidification cooling rate on microstructure and tribology characteristics of Zn-4Si alloy

The main objective of this work was to modify the microstructure and enhance the tribological properties of a new Zn-4Si al-loy through a high solidification cooling rate(SCR).According to the results,by increasing the SCR from 2.0 to 59.5℃/s the average size of primary Si particles and that of the grains reduced from 76.1 and 3780μm to less than about 14.6 and 460μm,respectively.Augment-ing the SCR also enhanced the microstructural homogeneity,decreased the porosity content(by 50%),and increased the matrix hardness(by 36%).These microstructural changes enhanced the tribological behavior.For instance,under the applied pressure of 0.5 MPa,an in-crease in the SCR from 2.0 to 59.5℃/s decreased the wear rate and the average friction coefficient of the alloy by 57%and 23%,respect-ively.The wear mechanism was also changed from the severe delamination,adhesion,and abrasion in the slowly-cooled alloy to the mild tribolayer delamination/abrasion in the high-cooling-rate-solidified sample.

Surface Characterization and Tribology Behavior of PMMA Processed by Excimer Laser

Polyoxymethylene methacrylate (PMMA) is widely used in ophthalmic biomaterials. Misuse of PMMA in extreme environments is likely to damage the ocular surface and intraocular structures. The surface characterization and tribological behavior of PMMA processed using an excimer laser were investigated in this study by contrasting diferent lubrication conditions and friction cycles. The results show that the roughness of the material surface increases with laser processing, which changes its physical structure. Under lubrication, the laser-treated PMMA exhibits better hydrophilicity, especially during the use of eye drops. No obvious relationship exists between the laser-processing time and friction behavior. However, the laser treatment may contribute to the formation of friction and wear mechanisms of PMMA materials. Laser-treated PMMA in saline solution exhibits better abrasive resistance by showing a lower wear rate than that in eye drops, although it has a higher friction coefcient. In this study, the diferent friction stages in laser-treated PMMA were clarifed under two lubrication conditions. The wear rates of the laser-treated PMMA were found to decrease with the number of cycles, and the friction coefcient has a similar variation tendency. The wear behavior of the laser-treated PMMA is dominated by the main abrasive wear and secondary transferred flm formation. This study provides a theoretical basis for the development and application of ophthalmic biomaterials in complex environments by examining the material surface interface behavior and wear mechanism after laser processing using PMMA as the research matrix.

Tribological Behaviors of Electroless Nickel-Boron Coating on Titanium Alloy Surface

Titanium alloys are excellent structural materials in engineering fields,but their poor tribological properties limit their further applications.Electroless plating is an effective method to enhance the tribological performance of alloys,but it is difficult to efficiently apply to titanium alloys,due to titanium alloy’s strong chemical activity.In this work,the electroless Nickel-Boron(Ni-B)coating was successfully deposited on the surface of titanium alloy(Ti-6AL-4V)via a new pre-treatment process.Then,linearly reciprocating sliding wear tests were performed to evaluate the tribological behaviors of titanium alloy and its electroless Ni-B coatings.It was found that the Ni-B coatings can decrease the wear rate of the titanium alloy from 19.89×10^(−3)mm^(3)to 0.41×10^(−3)mm^(3),which attributes to the much higher hardness of Ni-B coatings.After heat treatment,the hardness of Ni-B coating further increases corresponding to coating crystallization and hard phase formation.However,heat treatment does not improve the tribological performance of Ni-B coating,due to the fact that higher brittleness and more severe oxidative wear exacerbate the damage of heat-treated coatings.Furthermore,the Ni-B coatings heat-treated both in air and nitrogen almost present the same tribological performance.The finding of this work on electroless coating would further extend the practical applications of titanium alloys in the engineering fields.

Analysis of wheel-rail adhesion redundancy considering the thirdbody medium on the rail surface

Purpose–In response to the problem of insufficient traction/braking adhesion force caused by the existence of the third-body medium on the rail surface,this study aims to analyze the utilization of wheel-rail adhesion coefficient under different medium conditions and propose relevant measures for reasonable and optimized utilization of adhesion to ensure the traction/braking performance and operation safety of trains.Design/methodology/approach–Based on the PLS-160 wheel-rail adhesion simulation test rig,the study investigates the variation patterns of maximum utilized adhesion characteristics on the rail surface under different conditions of small creepage and large slip.Through statistical analysis of multiple sets of experimental data,the statistical distribution patterns of maximum utilized adhesion on the rail surface are obtained,and a method for analyzing wheel-rail adhesion redundancy based on normal distribution is proposed.The study analyzes the utilization of traction/braking adhesion,as well as adhesion redundancy,for different medium under small creepage and large slip conditions.Based on these findings,relevant measures for the reasonable and optimized utilization of adhesion are derived.Findings–When the third-body medium exists on the rail surface,the train should adopt the low-level service braking to avoid the braking skidding by extending the braking distance.Compared with the current adhesion control strategy of small creepage,adopting appropriate strategies to control the train’s adhesion coefficient near the second peak point of the adhesion coefficient-slip ratio curve in large slip can effectively improve the traction/braking adhesion redundancy and the upper limit of adhesion utilization,thereby ensuring the traction/braking performance and operation safety of the train.Originality/value–Most existing studies focus on the wheel-rail adhesion coefficient values and variation patterns under different medium conditions,without considering whether the rail surface with different medium can provide sufficient traction/braking utilized adhesion coefficient for the train.Therefore,there is a risk of traction overspeeding/braking skidding.This study analyzes whether the rail surface with different medium can provide sufficient traction/braking utilized adhesion coefficient for the train and whether there is redundancy.Based on these findings,relevant measures for the reasonable and optimized utilization of adhesion are derived to further ensure operation safety of the train.

Spark Plasma Sintering of Mg-based Alloys:Microstructure,Mechanical Properties,Corrosion Behavior,and Tribological Performance

Within the past ten years,spark plasma sintering(SPS)has become an increasingly popular process for Mg manufacturing.In the SPS process,interparticle diffusion of compressed particles is rapidly achieved due to the concept of Joule heating.Compared to traditional and additive manufacturing(AM)techniques,SPS gives unique control of the structural and microstructural features of Mg components.By doing so,their mechanical,tribological,and corrosion properties can be tailored.Although great advancements in this field have been made,these pieces of knowledge are scattered and have not been contextualized into a single work.The motivation of this work is to address this scientific gap and to provide a groundwork for understanding the basics of SPS manufacturing for Mg.To do so,the existing body of SPS Mg literature was first surveyed,with a focus on their structural formation and degradation mechanisms.It was found that successful Mg SPS fabrication highly depended on the processing temperature,particle size,and particle crystallinity.The addition of metal and ceramic composites also affected their microstructural features due to the Zener pinning effect.In degradative environments,their performance depends on their structural features and whether they have secondary phased composites.In industrial applications,SPS'd Mg was found to have great potential in biomedical,hydrogen storage,battery,automotive,and recycling sectors.The prospects to advance the field include using Mg as a doping agent for crystallite size refinement and using bulk metallic Mg-based glass powders for amorphous SPS components.Despite these findings,the interactions of multi-composites on the processing-structure-property relationships of SPS Mg is not well understood.In total,this work will provide a useful direction in the SPS field and serve as a milestone for future Mg-based SPS manufacturing.

Microstructural characterization,tribological and corrosion behavior of AA7075-TiC composites

Aluminum alloys are the potential materials in the automobile and aerospace sectors due to their lower density,easy forming and excellent corrosion resistance.The demand of high strength-to-weight ratio materials in structural applications needs the engineering industries to seek aluminum alloy with new versions of hard and brittle ceramic particles.The microstructure,hardness,wear and corrosion behaviors of AA7075 composites with 2.5wt.%and 5wt.%TiC particles were studied.Microscopic analysis is evident that the transformation of the strong dendritic morphology to non-dendritic morphology on the incorporation of TiC into AA7075.Furthermore,the precipitation of the second-phase compounds such as Al_(2)CuMg,Al_(2)Cu andFe-rich Al_6(Cu,Fe)/Al_(7)Cu_(2)Fe)is promoted by TiC particles at inter-and intra-dendritic regions.Accordingly,the hardness of composites is improved by grain boundary strengthening and particulate strengthening mechanisms.Both coefficient of friction and wear rate have an inverse relation with TiC concentration.The base alloy without TiC shows adhesive-type wear-induced deformation due to the formation of an oxide film,while composite samples exhibit a mechanically mixed layer and abrasive-type wear behavior.Composite samples shows a higher corrosion rate due to the presence of numerous precipitates which promote pitting corrosion.

Transfer film effects induced by 3D-printed polyether-ether-ketone with excellent tribological properties for joint prosthesis

Based on the building principle of additive manufacturing,printing orientation mainly determines the tribological properties of joint prostheses.In this study,we created a polyether-ether-ketone(PEEK)joint prosthesis using fused filament fabrication and investigated the effects of printing orientation on its tribological properties using a pin-on-plate tribometer in 25% newborn calf serum.An ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene transfer film is formed on the surface of PEEK due to the mechanical capture of wear debris by the 3D-printed groove morphology,which is significantly impacted by the printing orientation of PEEK.When the printing orientation was parallel to the sliding direction of friction,the number and size of the transfer film increased due to higher steady stress.This transfer film protected the matrix and reduced the friction coefficient and wear rate of friction pairs by 39.13%and 74.33%,respectively.Furthermore,our findings provide a novel perspective regarding the role of printing orientation in designing knee prostheses,facilitating its practical applications.

Effect of Cryogenic Treatment on Microstructure and Tribological Property Evolution of Electron Beam Melted Ti6Al4V

Cryogenic treatment was used to improve the tribological properties of Ti6Al4V artificial hip joint implants.Cryogenic treatment at-196℃with different holding time were carried out on Ti6Al4V specimens fabricated using electron beam melting(EBM),and their microstructure and tribological properties evolution were systematically analyzed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),vickers hardness,and wear tests.The experimental results show that the as-fabricated specimen consists of lamellarαphase andβcolumnar crystal.While,the thickness of lamellarαphase decreased after cryogenic treatment.In addition,it can be found that the fineαphase was precipitated and dispersed between the lamellarαphase with the holding time increase.Vickers hardness shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing.The wear rate of the specimen cryogenic treated for 24 h is the minimum and the average friction coefficient is 0.50,which is reduced by 14.61%compared with the as-fabricated.The wear mechanism of the as-fabricated specimen is severe exfoliation,adhesive,abrasive,and slight fatigue wear.However,the specimen cryogenic treated for 24 h shows slight adhesive and abrasive wear.It can be concluded that it is feasibility of utilizing cryogenic treatment to reduce the wear of EBMed Ti6Al4V.

Influence of railway wheel tread damage on wheel-rail impact loads and the durability of wheelsets

Dynamic wheel-rail contact forces induced by a severe form of wheel tread damage have been measured by a wheel impact load detector during full-scale field tests at different vehicle speeds.Based on laser scanning,the measured three-dimensional damage geometry is employed in simulations of dynamic vehicle-track interaction to calibrate and verify a simulation model.The relation between the magnitude of the impact load and various operational parameters,such as vehicle speed,lateral position of wheel-rail contact,track stiffness and position of impact within a sleeper bay,is investigated.The calibrated model is later employed in simulations featuring other forms of tread damage;their effects on impact load and subsequent fatigue impact on bearings,wheel webs and subsurface initiated rolling contact fatigue of the wheel tread are assessed.The results quantify the effects of wheel tread defects and are valuable in a shift towards condition-based maintenance of running gear,and for general assessment of the severity of different types of railway wheel tread damage.

Characteristics of Magnetic Tribology on High Flux Pair of Magnetic Driving Mechanism

The rectangle-like pulsed magnetic field acted on the rubbing pair was presented through analyzing the exciting property in the reciprocating travel. The test of wear in NG-x tester shows that the wear between the electromagnetic core and down magnetic board distributes in the high velocity slip region of reciprocating travel, and the adhesive wear in the low velocity slip region nearby up and down dead points is depressed owing to the presence of high flux magnetic field. The lubrication by magnetic fluid with high permeability effectively reduces the friction and wear of high flux rubbing pair, and improves the conducting property of magnetic circuit constructed by the rubbing pair, which is beneficial to increase the operation performance of magnetic driving mechanism.

Influence of load on sliding tribology of C/C composite with 40Cr steel couple coated by Cr

With the 40Cr steel couple coated by Cr, the sliding tribology behavior of two kinds of C/C composites with different matrix was tested using a M2000 wear tester. The results show that with the increasing of load, the friction coefficients of the composite with resin carbon matrix(RC) decrease quickly from 0.156 under 60 N to 0.123 under 150 N, while those of the composite with rough lamination/smooth lamination /resin carbon (RL/SL/RC) change only between 0.122 and 0.101. The wear volume loss of the two composites increases except for under 100 N. The SEM morphology shows that with the increasing of load, the worn surface of the composite with RC becomes more and more integrated while the size of the debris becomes less and less. The Raman spectrum shows that the graphitization on the worn surface of the fibers draws down after 100 N, the graphitization of the boundary between the fiber and the matrix carbon rises up to 150 N, but the graphitization of the matrix carbon draws down all the while. With the increasing of load, the graphitization on the worn surface of all the worn areas becomes closer and closer, which indicates the worn surface of the different component has the similar friction ability. The composites with RL/SL/RC have better tribological characteristic than the composite with RC.

Tribological and rheological performance of lithium grease with poly-a-olefin and alkyl-tetralin as base oils

A new category of lithium greases was synthesized by using poly-a-olefin(PAO8) and alkyl-tetralin as base oil, where the alkyl-tetralins were synthesized by the alkylation of tetralin and olefins. The influence of thickener concentration, alkyl-tetralin content and type of blend oils on the rheological and tribological performance of lithium grease was investigated. The microstructures of soap fibers were measured to reveal the structure-property correlations. The concentration of thickener and alkyl-tetralin content obviously affect the lubricating performance of lithium grease, while the molecular structure of alkyltetralin has no obvious impact on their properties. It was found that alkyl-tetralin could significantly enhance the thickening ability of PAO8 base oils, and decrease the amount of thickeners by 1.5%(mass).Lithium greases prepared using 20%(mass) alkyl-tetralin as co-base oil exhibited high colloidal stability,excellent rheological behaviors and tribological properties.

Coupling Analysis of Tribology and Dynamics in Rolling Interface

The metal plastic flow, tribology performance and work roll vibration on the rolling interface were analyzed. Considering the effect of work roll vibration on the tribology behavior of rolling interface, the damping of rolling interface was researched. It is found that the rolling interface, where the partial hydraulic lubricating film and dry friction area coexist, is of negative damping coefficient. The negative damping results from the dynamic variation of the thickness of lubricating film in the rolling interface, and is caused by the special coupling between dynamics and tribology of the rolling interface.

Tribological Mechanism of Graphene and Ionic Liquid Mixed Fluid on Grinding Interface under Nanofluid Minimum Quantity Lubrication

Graphene has superhigh thermal conductivity up to 5000 W/(m·K),extremely thin thickness,superhigh mechanical strength and nano-lamellar structure with low interlayer shear strength,making it possess great potential in mini-mum quantity lubrication(MQL)grinding.Meanwhile,ionic liquids(ILs)have higher thermal conductivity and better thermal stability than vegetable oils,which are frequently used as MQL grinding fluids.And ILs have extremely low vapor pressure,thereby avoiding film boiling in grinding.These excellent properties make ILs also have immense potential in MQL grinding.However,the grinding performance of graphene and ionic liquid mixed fluid under nano-fluid minimum quantity lubrication(NMQL),and its tribological mechanism on abrasive grain/workpiece grinding interface,are still unclear.This research firstly evaluates the grinding performance of graphene and ionic liquid mixed nanofluids(graphene/IL nanofluids)under NMQL experimentally.The evaluation shows that graphene/IL nanofluids can further strengthen both the cooling and lubricating performances compared with MQL grinding using ILs only.The specific grinding energy and grinding force ratio can be reduced by over 40%at grinding depth of 10μm.Work-piece machined surface roughness can be decreased by over 10%,and grinding temperature can be lowered over 50℃at grinding depth of 30μm.Aiming at the unclear tribological mechanism of graphene/IL nanofluids,molecular dynamics simulations for abrasive grain/workpiece grinding interface are performed to explore the formation mechanism of physical adsorption film.The simulations show that the grinding interface is in a boundary lubrication state.IL molecules absorb in groove-like fractures on grain wear flat face to form boundary lubrication film,and graphene nanosheets can enter into the grinding interface to further decrease the contact area between abrasive grain and workpiece.Compared with MQL grinding,the average tangential grinding force of graphene/IL nanofluids can decrease up to 10.8%.The interlayer shear effect and low interlayer shear strength of graphene nanosheets are the principal causes of enhanced lubricating performance on the grinding interface.EDS and XPS analyses are further carried out to explore the formation mechanism of chemical reaction film.The analyses show that IL base fluid happens chemical reactions with workpiece material,producing FeF_(2),CrF_(3),and BN.The fresh machined surface of workpiece is oxidized by air,producing NiO,Cr_(2)O_(3) and Fe_(2)O_(3).The chemical reaction film is constituted by fluorides,nitrides and oxides together.The combined action of physical adsorption film and chemical reaction film make graphene/IL nano-fluids obtain excellent grinding performance.

Investigation on the Tribology of Co Implanted Stainless Steel Using Metal Vapor Vacuum Arc Ion Source

AISI 304 stainless steel was ion implanted with Co, and the tribological property on the surface of the stainless steelwas investigated. The Co ion implantation was carried out using a metal vapor vacuum arc (Mevva) broad-beam ionsource with an extraction voltage of 40 kV, implantation doses of 3×10^(17)/cm^2 and 5×10^(17)/cm^2, and ion currentdensities of 13, 22 and 32μA/cm^2. The results showed that the near-surface hardness of Co-implanted stainless steelsample was increased by 50% or more, and it increased with increasing ion current density at first and then declined.The friction coefficient decreased from 0.74 to 0.20 after Co implantation. The wear rate after Co implantationreduced by 25% or more as compared to the unimplanted sample. The wear rate initially decreased with increasingion current density and then an increase was observed. Within the range of experimental parameters, there existsa critical ion current density for the Co-implanted stainless steel, at which the wear rate decreased with increasingretained dose, going through a minimum and then increased. The critical ion current density in this paper is about22μA/cm^2.

Structure and Tribology Property of Carbon Nitride Films Deposited by MW-ECR Plasma Enhanced Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering

Carbon nitride films were deposited by a twinned microwave electron cyclotron resonance （ECR） plasma source enhanced unbalanced magnetron sputtering system. The results indicate that the structure of the films is sensitive to the nitrogen content. The increase in the nitrogen flow ratio leads to an increase in the sp3 content and an improvement of the tribological properties.

To the New Concept of Green Tribology

The aim of the present work is to confirm the fundamental possibility of creating new generation of the nanostructured composite coatings-orientants are studied under conditions of boundary lubrication in inactive oil, as green tribology aspect and to experimentally prove the efficacy of the nanostructured composite coatings-orientants for engineering applications. Tribological properties of nanostructured composite coatings-orientants are studied under conditions of boundary lubrication in inactive oil, as green tribology aspect. The friction tests were carried out by using two test configurations: “ball-on-disc” and “ring-to-ring”. As lubricants some model and commercial oils were used. It is found that the friction coefficient and its temperature dependence differ significantly for nanostructured composite coatings under study. The obtained results were attributed to different orientating effect of these coatings on structural ordering in boundary layers, which structure is considered as a mesophase of liquid crystals. The findings suggest that the nanostructured composite coatings-orientants with orientating effect on boundary layers are advantageous for improving antifriction characteristics and for governing processes of boundary lubrication. The nanostructured composite coatings-orientants can improve lubricating properties of oils (with and without additives) and may be advantageous for engineering practice as they improve antifriction characteristics of rubbing pairs and allow controlling the processes of boundary lubrication. Thus, received nanostructured composite coatings-orientants can be today the best materials of green tribology in engineering.

Effect of heat treatment on microstructure,mechanical and tribological properties of in-situ (TiC+TiB)/TC4 composites by casting

To enhance the performance of in-situ synthesized 6vol.%(Ti C+Ti B)/TC4 titanium matrix composites fabricated by casting,a variety of heat treatment processes were carried out.Upon conducting microstructure observations following various heat treatments,it was found that the composites exhibit a basketweave microstructure,consisting of an α phase and a transformed β phase.The sizes of(α+β) phases were found to be refined to varying degrees after the heat treatment processes,while the morphology of Ti B remains largely unchanged and Ti C becomes granulated.Compressive testing revealed that all composites subjected to different heat treatments demonstrate a notable increase in ultimate compressive strength as well as a slight improvement in plasticity compared to the as-cast state.The results of the tribological performance test indicated that the heat-treated composites exhibit lower average friction coefficient,specific wear rate,and worn surface roughness compared to the as-cast composite.Among the heat treatment processes studied,the composite solution heated at 1,150 °C/1 h followed by air cooling,then 950 °C/1 h followed by air cooling,and finally 500 °C/4 h followed by air cooling,demonstrates the highest levels of hardness,compressive strength,and wear resistance.These improvements are attributed to the combined effects of solid solution strengthening,grain refinement,and the pinning of dislocation slip.

AlSi11/ Si₃N₄Interpenetrating Composites Tribology Properties of Aluminum Matris Composites

In present work, the metal-ceramic interpenetrating composites (IPCs) as AlSi11/ Si3N4 are fabricated by infiltrating technique. IPCs exhibit special characterization of brittle ceramic reinforced phase introduced by ductile metal matrix phase. During the sliding wear processes, IPCs exhibit four wear mechanism such as initial adhesive wear, mixed adhesive and abrasive wear, adhesive wear and final abrasive wear. Reinforcements inhibit plastic flow and restrict propagation of wear cracks. Increase in the volume fraction of reinforcement leads to improvement in the wear resistance. Under higher load and lower round speed conditions, the friction coefficients are lower than that of relative conditions.