Friction and wear behavior of alumina composites with in-situ formation of aluminum borate and boron nitride

Abstract

Wear and friction properties of Al2 O3 composite reinforced with in-situ formed aluminum borate (9Al2 O3·2B2 O3) and hexa-boron nitride (h-BN) have been investigated. The initial constituents for the composites were Al2 O3, AlN, and H3 BO3. The H3 BO3 was used as a source of B2 O3, where B2 O3 reacted with AlN and Al2 O3 to form in-situ h-BN and 9Al2 O3·2B2 O3. Based on the thermodynamic calculation and phase transformation, four different compositions were selected. First, the powders were mixed by ball milling followed by compaction at 10 MPa. The compacted pellets were sintered at 1400◦ C in vacuum. The composites were characterized using X-ray diffraction followed by hardness measurement and reciprocating sliding test against alumina and steel balls. The X-ray diffraction results revealed the formation of in situ phases of 9Al2 O3·2B2 O3 and h-BN that improved the tribological properties. By comparing the tribological performance of different composites, it was found that the hard 9Al2 O3·2B2 O3 phase maintains the wear resistance of composites, whereas the coefficient of friction is highly dependent on the counter ball. Against alumina ball, the lowest coefficient of friction was observed for the composites with maximum h-BN concentration and minimum aluminum borate concentration, whereas the opposite trend was observed against the steel ball.