High-temperature wear behavior of a Zr-based metallic glass

Due to the fascinating application prospects of Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG), it is of practical engineering interest to study its wear behavior and mechanism under various temperature conditions. In this work, the wear behavior and mechanism of a commercially available Zr ₃₅Ti ₃₀Be _26.75Cu _8.25 BMG at room temperature (RT) to 500 °C were investigated. The results demonstrated that the wear rate increased from ∼24.7 × 10 ⁻⁵ mm ³ N ⁻¹ m ⁻¹ to ∼196.8 × 10 ⁻⁵ mm ³ N ⁻¹ m ⁻¹ as the temperature increased from RT to 500 °C. Accordingly, the coefficient of friction (COF) is reduced from an average of 0.45–0.18 due to the lubricating effect of the oxide layer. At low temperatures of RT and 200 °C, the predominant wear mechanisms are abrasive wear and adhesive wear. However, in the supercooled liquid region (SCLR) of at 350 °C, the dominant wear mechanism is a combination of superplasticity-dominated abrasive wear, severe fatigue wear, and slight oxidative wear. Above the crystallization temperature ( T _x ) at 500 °C, the primary wear mechanisms are severe abrasive wear and oxidative wear. Our results can provide important guidance for determining the applicable temperature, service life and failure mode of BMG components.