Environmental effects on friction and wear of dry sliding zirconia and alumina ceramics doped with copper oxide

The influence of the addition of copper oxide on the friction and wear characteristics of dry sliding zirconia and alumina at various humidities and elevated temperatures is outlined in this article. At various humidities, it is found that the addition of CuO give a significant contribution in reducing the coefficient of friction of dry sliding zirconia against alumina (from 0.65 to 0.25) and alumina against alumina (from 0.55 to 0.35) systems. At elevated temperatures, zirconia and alumina doped with CuO exhibit high friction (f > 0.6). The experiments reveal that alumina doped with CuO exhibit superior resistance to wear even at high temperature.