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Dry Sliding Wear Behavior of Magnesium Composites with Ti3AlC2 Reinforcement: Tribological Responses and Underlying Mechanisms

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Abstract

The phenomena associated with dry sliding wear of Mg-Ti3AlC2 composites have been investigated under a range of applied load, sliding velocity, and distance. Ti3AlC2 reinforcement of 20-40 vol.% was chosen to see the dependency of tribological responses such as coefficient of friction (CoF) and specific wear rate (SWR). Wear maps were also constructed to investigate variations in CoF and SWR with the aforementioned test variables. Our observation from those responses showed a marked decrease in CoF and SWR with an increase in load and speed. This phenomenon elucidates the ability of this composite to repair the worn-out surface. Compositional aspects of the tribo-film formed in the contact area showed the presence of mixed oxides enriched in Ti over Mg.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the grant support received from the AR & DB (Aeronautical Research and Development Board), New Delhi, Government of India (ARDB/01/2031765/M/I). We would like to thank Mrs Kalavati, from CSIR-NAL, for her participation in extensive SEM investigation.

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  1. Materials Science Division, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, 560017, India

    Kaustav Barat,  Bharata, K. Venkateswarlu & Lingappa Rangaraj

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Appendices

Appendix 1

In the complete description of wear behavior, the whole tribosystem has a role. Therefore, we are presenting some additional data on the wear of the counter body, i.e., EN 24 disk against cylindrical pins of all the three composites (reinforced with 20, 30, and 40 vol.% of Ti3AlC2) and examination of the wear track. The wear data have been taken using 5 N load and 20 cm/sec of speed. The CoF and SWR are presented in Table

Table 1 Wear test rest results of EN24 disk against pin of all the compositions
Full size table

1. The wear tracks formed due to the abrasive pin of 20, 30, and 40 vol.% Mg-Ti3AlC2 composite pins are shown in Fig. 

Fig. 10
figure 10

Wear track and their respective width tested by Mg-Ti3AlC2 composites: (a) 20 vol.%, (b) 30 vol.%, and (c) 40 vol.%

Full size image

10. The respective wear tracks and their widths are shown in Fig. 10. As the volume fraction of Ti3AlC2 increases, width of the wear track also increases on the steel surface.

Appendix 2

In appendix 11, the CoF evolution with time is presented. This can be clearly seen that a rate of increase for 20 and 30 vol.% of Ti3AlC2 phase is extremely low. The composite with 40 vol.% of Ti3AlC2 phase exhibits a continuous increase in CoF with time. An explanation of this phenomenon is represented in Fig. 11(b). The transfer film formed during the wear at the steel-Mg-Ti3AlC2 composite interface is sticky, patchy, and viscous. The highly viscous nature of this film creates stick–slip condition at the interface. This stick–slip behavior gives rise to fluctuations in CoF–time response. The increase in CoF value with time can be seen for 30 and 40 vol.% of the composites. From the wear debris analysis, we got a rough estimate about the content of the film such as broken and intact Ti3AlC2 particles remaining in the transfer film. But when the amount of particles is higher as in the case of 30 and 40% Ti3AlC2-reinforced composites, this consistency of the transfer film is disintegrated and abrasive chunks with Ti3AlC2 particle core and smeared Mg-Ti-Al-Fe oxide films increase the resistance. Higher the particle content of the transfer film, the more fragile it is. 

Fig. 11
figure 11

(a) The evolution of CoF with time for composites having 20, 30, and 40 vol.% of Ti3AlC2 phase and (b) the effect of volume fraction on the consistency of transfer film formed at the contact volume

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Barat, K., Bharata, Venkateswarlu, K. et al. Dry Sliding Wear Behavior of Magnesium Composites with Ti3AlC2 Reinforcement: Tribological Responses and Underlying Mechanisms. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 32, 4986–4997 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-022-07448-2

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