The effects of stoichiometry on the dry sliding wear of FeAl

The effects of alloy stoichiometry on the dry sliding wear behavior of B2-structured FeAl were investigated using four different FeAl alloys containing 40, 43, 48, and 50 at.% Al. Room temperature pin-on-disk tribotests were performed against an yttria-stabilized zirconia counterface in four different environments: air, oxygen, 4% hydrogen in nitrogen, and argon. It was found that the alloys had lower wear rates in both oxygen-free and water vapor-free environments, where the wear loss was roughly inversely related to the hardness. Interestingly, the wear rates were little affected by the presence of molecular hydrogen. In oxygen- or water vapor-containing environments, the effects of the environment predominated over any effects from the mechanical properties of the alloys. The tips of the worn pins were examined using both scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, the latter using specimens produced by focused ion beam milling. Zirconia particles were found to be embedded in a tribolayer on the worn tips of the pins. The results indicate that both two-body and three-body abrasive wear, as well as plastic deformation and delamination were the main wear mechanisms. The abrasive particles largely consisted of the counterface material.