Influence of nitrogen ion implantation fluences on surface structure and tribological properties of SiC ceramics in water-lubrication

Nitrogen ions were implanted into SiC ceramics by using ion implantation technology (N+-SiC). The surface structure and chemical bonds of N+-SiC ceramics were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and their nanohardness was measured by nanoindenter. The friction and wear properties of the N+-SiC/SiC tribo-pairs were investigated and compared with those of SiC/SiC tribo-pairs in water using ball-on-disk tribo-meters. The wear tracks on the N+-SiC ceramics were observed by non-contact surface profilometer and scanning electron microscope (SEM) and their wear volumes were determined by non-contact surface profilometer. The results show that the N+-SiC ceramics were mainly composed of SiC and SiCN phase and Sisingle bondN, Csingle bondC, Cdouble bond; length as m-dashN and Csingle bondN bonds were formed in the implantation layer. The highest hardness of 22.3 GPa was obtained as the N+-SiC ceramics implanted at 50 keV and 1 × 1017 ions/cm2. With an increase in nitrogen ion fluence, the running-in period of N+-SiC/SiC tribo-pairs decreased, and the mean stable friction coefficient decreased from 0.049 to 0.024. The N+-SiC ceramics implanted at 50 keV and 5 × 1017 ions/cm2 exhibited the excellent tribological properties in water. In comparison of SiC/SiC ceramic tribo-pairs, the lower friction coefficient and lower wear rate for the N+-SiC/SiC tribo-pairs were acquired.