The friction and wear behaviour of a series of new Si3N4-SiC-based ceramic composites, intended for face seal applications, has been investigated with cylinder-on-disc equipment. In particular, the influence of water and vapour on the friction, wear and tribo-film formation has been studied. The ceramics consisted of Sis3N4 and SiC in the proportions 7:3, to which 0, 4 or 8 wt% of hexagonal boron nitride was added as a solid lubricant. All specimens were produced by hot isostatic pressing. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used to reveal the phase composition and microstructure respectively. The hardness was assessed using Vickers indentation. The chemical composition of the tribo-films was studied with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The major results are that both friction and wear showed distinct low and high levels. The high friction level corresponded to friction coefficients between 0.4 and 0.9 and wear rates between 104 and 105 μm3/Nm. The low level corresponded to friction coefficients between 0.02 and 0.1, and wear rates between 10 and 103 μm3/Nm. When water or saturated vapour was present in the tribo-system, both friction and wear were low. All surfaces produced in the low level were smooth, covered by a thin well-adhering tribo-film while the high level resulted in strongly oxidized and patchy tribo-film covered by wear particles.
3D graphene/hexagonal boron nitride composite nanomaterials synergistically reduce the friction and wear of Steel‐DLC contacts
