Dry sliding tribological behavior of C/SiC under different load and speed

Abstract Carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide received increasing attention due to its superior physical properties. In the present study, the tribological characteristics of C/SiC and zirconia (ZrO2) are investigated. Moreover, the effects of the load (10–100 N) and sliding speed (0.2–0.8 m/s) on the tribological performance of C/SiCs are studied under dry friction and ambient temperature using a pin-on-disc tribometer. Wear surfaces of the pin and disc are examined by various methods before and after the tribology experiments to investigate the wear mechanism of the friction pair under different working conditions. The obtained results show that the contact pressure and sliding speed significantly affect the coefficient of friction (COF) and the wear rate (WR) of pin and disc. It is found that the parameters mentioned above decrease as load and speed increase. The lubricating film formed by the wear debris is found to be the key factor that affects the tribological performance. For high loads and speeds, the wear debris size decreases, contributing to the formation of the protection film and smooth wear surface during the dry friction process.