A study on friction and wear characteristics of Fe–Cu–Sn alloy with MoS2 as solid lubricant under dry conditions

Abstract

Iron-based alloys are materials of choice for engineering applications such as bearings and gears owing to their low cost, ease of manufacture, high strength, availability, and good wear resistance and low coefficient of friction. In this study, Fe–Cu–Sn composite containing varying percentage of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is developed using simple single stage compaction and sintering. The friction and wear behaviors of these composites were studied ball-on-disc tribometer in which EN8 steel ball was used. It was found that with the increase in percentage of MoS2 from 0 to 3 wt% the coefficient of friction and wear rate substantially decreases from around 0.85 to 0.25. The wear mechanism in base composition (0% MoS2) is observed to be adhesive and abrasive, whereas mild abrasive wear was observed in the 3 wt% MoS2 composite. The hardness of composite was also found to improve with the increase in MoS2 weight fraction.