The friction and wear properties of ceramics - The effects of metal deposition and ion irradiation

SiC ceramics, the one deposited with niobium metal film (Nb/SiC) and Ar+ ion-irradiated Nb/SiC were subjected to a pin-on-disk friction and wear test in an ambient atmosphere with a diamond pin for 40 hours. The friction coefficient between SiC and diamond pin was about 0.1. The Nb film deposition reduced the friction coefficient and it was about 0.04 with the normal load of 1000 gf. The wear of SiC was also reduced to one seventh by the Nb deposition. The Ar+ ion-irradiated Nb/SiC was found to have very high wear resistivity and effectively no wear was detected in the samples irradiated to the doses over 5×1015 ions/cm2.