Tribological properties of bulk metallic glasses

The frictional and wear behavior of several bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) were investigated at room temperature under dry sliding condition. The influence of the type of motion on the tribological properties was of particular interest. Under identical sliding condition, the BGMs investigated in this study exhibited rather similar frictional behavior, with values ranging from 0.35 to 0.43. However, the present results indicated a significant difference in the wear performance. Surface modifications in the wear tracks were found to be dependent on the counterpart material and the nature of the sliding motion, and to contribute to the variations of the tribological properties of bulk metallic glasses.