In the paper the method and results are presented of the testing of tribological performance of a number of hard materials available commercially. The tests consisted in unidirectional sliding with liquid lubrication. The load and velocity regime chosen were similar to a standard four-ball lubricity test with constant velocity and load increasing over time. The regime was modified in such a way that over the initial part of the test both the velocity and load were linearly increased until a certain stable level of each input parameter was reached and the test was then continued till the termination due to chosen criteria. The materials used were high alloy tool steels and sintered carbides, normally used in working of metals by cutting. The lubricants environmentally inert or friendly fluids: water, mineral oil-in-water emulsion and vegetable oil. In the tests, typical sliding friction parameters were recorded, later evaluated on the basis of multiple parameters observable within the test such as e.g. maximum load and velocity reached, calculated maximum surface pressure or presence and amplitude of friction induced vibrations. In the group of material/material/lubricant combinations a ranking was created for each parameter in the assessment set by awarding points for performance. Best performance was granted the least amount of points. Overall performance was then judged by the accumulated number of points. The materials, which were evaluated as performing best have been chosen as input materials for the design and manufacture of a prototype motor for later laboratory and field testing.
The titanium and its alloys can be subjected to surface treatment, including laser treatment. In this work a new laser treatment at cryogenic conditions of Ti6Al4V alloy has been described. The work has been aimed at establishing whether such surface treatment could be suitable for implants working under wear in biological corrosive environment. The remelting has been made with the use of CO2 continuous work laser at laser power between 3 and 6 kW, at scan rate 0.5 and 1 m/s. The microstructure, surface topography, hardness, microhardness and wear linear rate and mass loss under tribological tests made in Ringer`s solution have been made. The results have shown that despite the surface cracking the tribological properties in simulated body fluid have been substantially improved.
A method is presented for the comparative testing of wear resistance of ceramic coatings made from materials potentially feasible in tribo -medical applications, mainly orthopaedic implants made from ceramics coated metals for low cost, long life and low wear particle emission into the body. The method was devised as the main tool for use in research and is comprised of flat on flat and ball on flat surface (sliding) tests. Seven ceramic coatings were chosen as potentially feasible for the application area known to perform well in low viscosity fluid lubrication condition. The materials used in coatings were diamond like carbon (DLC), diamond like carbon with tungsten additive (DLC-W), titanium nitride (TiN), titanium carbide (TiC), silicon carbide (SiC), chromium nitride (CrN), carbon nitride (CNx). The coatings tested were deposited in vacuum to a stainless steel substrate with the use of several methods, each suited to the coating material; The methods were the following: cathode arc evaporation (ARC), magnetron sputtering (MAG), plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition (PACVD), impulse reactive magnetron sputtering (IRMS) and a combined method ARC-MAG-RF-PACVD (radio frequency assisted -RF); A multiple role PT-3 tribometer was used for flat on flat surface tests (ring shaped surface) and a reciprocating linear motion TPZ-1 tribometer for ball on flat surface tests and a CSEM REVETEST® Scratch Tester to perform standard scratch test in air on coatings. A set of results was obtained illustrating the limiting load for each coating (the load inflicting rapid destruction of the coating) and the endurance under light loading conditions. As lubricating agents distilled water and saline water solution were used. Test results examples are presented and discussed as an illustration of the method's usability for the target application area.
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