Influence of NbC Content on the Wear Resistance of Alumina/Niobium Carbide Tools

Abstract Wear resistance is a fundamental property which defines the lifetime of cutting tools, but the investigation of wear performance of alternative hard materials for traditional WC-Co composites are recent. The present work evaluated the pin-on-disk wear behavior and mechanical properties, i.e., hardness and fracture toughness of spark plasma sintered Al2O3 matrix composites with additions of 5, 15, 25 or 30%wt of niobium carbide NbC. The wear resistance was observed to increase as a function of the NbC content, even though the hardness reached a plateau at 25%wt NbC. The composite behavior was compared to that of other alumina composite tool materials proving to be a promising material for applications such as ceramic cutting tools. The composition A95N5 presented the best combination of values of wear rate: 8.9 mm3/N.m, hardness equal to (17.36±1.72) GPa and fracture toughness of (3.2±0.6) MPa. m1/2.

[1]  Wei Zhang.  A review of tribological properties for boron carbide ceramics , 2021 .

[2]  S. N. Grigor'ev,et al.  Tribological Aspect in Technological Assurance of Ceramic Component Quality , 2019, Refractories and Industrial Ceramics.

[3]  W. M. Rainforth,et al.  Dry sliding friction and wear behaviour of TiC-based ceramics and consequent effect of the evolution of grain buckling on wear mechanism , 2019, Wear.

[4]  P. Di,et al.  Comparison of the wear behaviors of advanced and conventional cemented tungsten carbides , 2019, International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials.

[5]  P. Di,et al.  Effect of the additive VC on tribological properties of WC-Al2O3 composites , 2018, International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials.

[6]  Xin He,et al.  Effect of Humidity on Friction and Wear—A Critical Review , 2018, Lubricants.

[7]  Xiaobin Cui,et al.  Effects of material microstructure and surface microscopic geometry on the performance of ceramic cutting tools in intermittent turning , 2018 .

[8]  D. Sarkar,et al.  ZrO2-toughened Al2O3 composites with better fracture and wear resistance properties , 2018, Journal of biomaterials applications.

[9]  L. C. Valeriano,et al.  Microstructure and mechanical properties of 90WC-8Ni-2Mo2C cemented carbide developed by conventional powder metallurgy , 2017 .

[10]  E. Pallone,et al.  Sliding wear behavior of Al2O3-NbC composites obtained by conventional and nonconventional techniques , 2017 .

[11]  M. Woydt,et al.  The use of niobium carbide (NbC) as cutting tools and for wear resistant tribosystems , 2015 .

[12]  S. M. Shariff,et al.  Tribological behavior of TiB2–TiC–Al2O3 composite coating synthesized by combined SHS and laser technology , 2010 .

[13]  W. Acchar,et al.  Properties of sintered alumina reinforced with niobium carbide , 2009 .

[14]  J. Vleugels,et al.  NbC as grain growth inhibitor and carbide in WC–Co hardmetals , 2008 .

[15]  Hugh O. Pierson,et al.  Handbook of Refractory Carbides and Nitrides: Properties, Characteristics, Processing and Applications , 1996 .

[16]  M. Ashby,et al.  Wear mechanisms in brittle solids , 1992 .

[17]  J. Beynon,et al.  Effects of surrounding atmosphere on the wear of sintered alumina , 1991 .

[18]  Brian R. Lawn,et al.  A Critical Evaluation of Indentation Techniques for Measuring Fracture Toughness: I , 1981 .

[19]  T. R. Wilshaw,et al.  Quasi-static solid particle damage in brittle solids—I. Observations analysis and implications , 1976 .

[20]  Chuanzhen Huang,et al.  Friction and wear behaviors of Al2O3/TiC micro-nano-composite ceramic sliding against metals and hard materials , 2016 .

[21]  Li Jianfeng,et al.  Unlubricated friction and wear behaviors of various alumina-based ceramic composites against cemented carbide , 2006 .

[22]  W. Schubert,et al.  Hardness to toughness relationship of fine-grained WC-Co hardmetals , 1998 .

[23]  I. Hutchings.  Tribology: Friction and Wear of Engineering Materials , 1992 .