Friction and Wear Properties of the Al_2O_3-TiC-TiN Composite Ceramic under Single Abrasive

With the help of an in-situ pin-disk sliding wear apparatus in scanning election microscopes(SEM), the friction and wear properties of the Al_2O_3-TiC-TiN advanced composite ceramic undersingle abrasive were studied. The results show that the friction behaviors of Al_2O_3-TiC-TiN have different characteristics in vacuum and air. At first the dominant wear mechanism is themicrocutting and with the wear proceeding the brittle frasture becomes more and more important.The experiments also indicate that the relative hardness of the abrasive has a great effect on thewear rate of this material under three-body abrasion conditions.