Friction and wear of pressureless sintered Ti(C,N)–WC ceramics

Friction and wear of pressureless sintered Ti(C,N)–WC ceramics were studied using a ball-on-reciprocating flat apparatus in open air. The silicon nitride ball and the cemented carbide (WC–Co) ball were used against the Ti(C,N)–WC plate samples. The friction coefficients of the Ti(C,N)–WC samples against the silicon nitride ball and the cemented carbide ball were about 0.57 and 0.3, respectively. The wear of the sample without WC addition was five times as large as that of the sample with 10 mol% WC addition when tested against the silicon nitride ball under 98 N. Meanwhile, the former was about 15 times as big as the latter when tested against the cemented carbide ball under 196 N. The higher wear coefficient of Ti(C,N)–0WC was explained in part by larger grain size. Wear occurred mainly by grain dislodgment after intergranular cracking mainly caused by the accumulated stress within the grains.