Tribological Properties of Ti ₃ SiC ₂

Abstract

The present contribution reports the unlubricated friction and wear properties of Ti 3 SiC 2 against steel. The fretting experiments were performed under varying load (1–10 N) and the detailed wear mechanism is studied using SEM‐EDS, Raman spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Under the selected fretting conditions, Ti 3 SiC 2 /steel tribocouple exhibits a transition in friction as well as wear behavior with coefficient of friction varying between 0.5 and 0.6 and wear rate in the order of 10 −5 mm 3 ·(N·m) −1 . Raman analysis reveals that the fretting wear is accompanied by the triboxidation with the formation of TiO 2 , SiO 2 , and Fe 2 O 3 . A plausible explanation for the transition in friction and wear with load is proposed.