Mechanical and tribological behaviors of the tribo-layer with nanocrystalline structure during sliding contact: Experiments and model assessment

A dislocation-density-based model is selected to investigate the mechanisms of the improvement in the mechanical and tribological performance of the tribo-layer during sliding friction. Ni3Al matrix composites are used for validating the analysis model. The experimental results show that the existing model can be successfully applied to predict the friction and mechanical performance of the tribo-layer which is formed during the sliding contact. The thermal effect caused by the frictional heat and crack propagation have been incorporated into the model. The grain growth and the thermal effect play an important role in the improvement of the wear resistance and decrease of friction.