Understanding the fretting wear of Ti3SiC2

The objective of the present research is to understand the tribological properties of Ti3SiC2. The fretting wear experiments were conducted on hot pressed Ti3SiC2 against bearing steel under varying load (1–10 N). Under selected fretting conditions, Ti3SiC2/steel couple exhibits higher COF of 0.5–0.6. Based on the detailed AFM analysis of the worn surface, the roughness parameters and bearing area of the worn surfaces are also evaluated. SEM–EDS analysis indicates the mutual material transfer between the counterfaces at the fretted contacts. Raman spectroscopy reveals that the fretting wear is accompanied by triboxidation with the formation of TiO2, SiO2 and Fe2O3. An important observation is that ‘metal-like plasticity’ behavior is observed on worn Ti3SiC2 at higher load (>6 N). A probable explanation for the transition in friction and wear with load is proposed.