Dry sliding wear behavior of TiB/Ti and TiC/Ti composites

Abstract

Titanium and its alloys have excellent strength properties and corrosion resistance, but they show poor wear resistance, which cannot be improved by heat treatment. The addition of hard ceramic particles to produce a titanium matrix composite is an effective method for enhancing the wear resistance of titanium and its alloys. In this study, TiC and TiB2 were used as reinforcement materials because a composite containing these reinforcements shows high tensile strength and different microstructure. TiB-and TiC-reinforced pure Ti matrix composites were fabricated by using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) method. Dry sliding wear tests were conducted on the composites using a ball-on-disk type testing machine. The effects of the reinforcement material, microstructural features, and reinforcement volume fraction on the wear behavior of the composites were investigated. The specific wear rates of both composites decreased with increasing reinforcement volume fraction. The specific wear rate of the TiC/Ti composite deceased drastically at a reinforcement volume fraction of 25 vol.%. TiC/Ti composites with reinforcement volume fractions of over 5 vol.% showed excellent wear resistance compared with the TiB/Ti composites. The wear behavior of the composite depended mainly on the distribution of reinforcement material and the nature of the reaction products between the matrix and reinforcement particles.