Tribological characteristics of antifriction alloys and mass transfer processes during operation of contact pairs in sliding bearings

The process of the formation of protective films on a contact surface after tribotesting is studied. The following three sliding pairs are tested: babbit-cast iron, aluminum antifriction alloy-cast iron, and bronze-steel. Metallographic methods implemented on a scanning electron microscope and local X-ray analysis are applied to examine the structure and relief of the protective film on the contact surface. The relationship between mass transfer and the tribological characteristics of the friction pairs is found. It is shown that the central process of the formation of secondary structure films evolves on the counterface.