Influence of processing parameters on wear resistance of nanostructured OFHC copper manufactured by large strain extrusion machining

The tribological behaviour of three ultra-fine grained oxygen-free high conductivity (OFHC) copper materials manufactured by large strain extrusion machining (LSEM), under variable shear strain, is studied under ball-on-flat reciprocating configuration and compared with that of conventional microstructured copper. The results are discussed as a function of microstructure and sliding direction. The lowest wear volume is obtained when the sliding takes place in the perpendicular direction to that of grain orientation. The highest wear resistance is observed for nanostructured copper material with an elongated grain structure in the extrusion direction. The wear resistance of this anisotropic material depends on the sliding direction. Wear mechanisms are discussed from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) observations.