Self-lubricating mechanisms via the in situ formed tribo-film of sintered ceramics with hBN addition in a high humidity environment

Sliding wear tests against monolithic Si3N4 and austenitic stainless steel, respectively, were performed on Si3N4 ceramic with the addition of hBN solid lubricants. The friction coefficients and wear rates were measured. The wear surface features were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laser scanning microscopy (LSM), and the chemical characterization of worn surface was made by Energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Results showed that the friction coefficient and the wear rate decreased with the increase of hBN up to 20vol% at high relative humidity (RH95%). When Si3N4-hBN ceramic composites sliding against stainless steel, with further increases in hBN content, the wear rate increased rapidly. The mechanism responsible were determined to be an in-situ formed tribo-chemical film composed of B-O and Si-O compounds between the pin-disc sliding couple. SEM observations showed that a black surface film is formed on the wear surface depending on the hBN content. The surface film associated with small friction coefficient of 0.03 and low wear rate with the magnitude of 10−6mm3/Nm was formed by the releasing and smearing of the tribo-chemical reaction products of hBN and moisture on the wear surface when with 20vol%hBN content. This tribo-chemical film acted as solid lubricant film between the sliding couple, and thus the couple entered to a state of boundary lubrication. Hence, the friction coefficient and the wear rate were significantly reduced. For Si3N4-hBN/stainless steel sliding pair, even at high relative humidity, no tribo-chemical film was observed on samples with 30vol%hBN content, just because of a large degradation of mechanical properties of the composite with higher hBN content. At low relative humidity (RH25%), the wear mechanism for Si3N4-hBN sliding couple was mainly dominated by mechanical wear (abrasive or adhesive wear) due to the absence of tribo-chemical film on the wear surfaces, and higher friction coefficient and wear rate were obtained.