Tribological behavior of a novel alumina/nano-zirconia/niobium biocomposite against ultra high molecular weight polyethylene

The present work has studied the dry sliding behavior of Al2O3-nZrO2-Nb micro-nanobiocomposites against ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) in air. The tests were carried out with a reciprocating wear tester with an applied load of 30 N, a sliding speed of 0.06 m/s and sliding distance up to 10 km. Under the adopted testing conditions, the ceramic-metal composite against UHMWPE shows one and a half order of magnitude lower wear rate than the monolithic alumina; and friction coefficient as low as half of that for pure alumina-UHMWPE system. This behavior is related with: (a) the improvement in mechanical properties (toughness and strength) that will lead to the corresponding improvement in wear properties, and (b) the formation of a self-lubricating layer that will provide sufficient lubrication in order to considerably reduce the friction, as compared to monolithic alumina against UHMWPE combination.