Study of metal–ceramic WC/Cu nano-wear behavior and strengthening mechanism

Abstract

In view of the inherent poor tribological properties of copper, the reinforcement of Copper Matrix Composites with WC particles presents a promising research area with significant industrial impact. Therefore, in that current study, a molecular dynamics approach was used to simulate the process of repeated friction of diamond grinding balls on WC/Cu composites, and the friction force, friction coefficient, abrasion depth, wear rate, abrasion morphology, von-Mises stress, internal defects, workpiece energy, and performance comparison of different layer thicknesses were systematically investigated during the multiple friction processes. It was found that the fluctuation amplitude of friction force, friction coefficient, and abrasion depth were smaller and the fluctuation frequency was larger during the initial friction, whereas near the WC phase, extreme values of the above parameters appeared and the von-Mises stress was highly concentrated while the workpiece energy continued to increase. With the repeated friction, as the number of times of friction increases, the friction force, friction coefficient, and abrasion depth fluctuation amplitude increases, the fluctuation frequency decreases, the workpiece energy appears extreme near the WC phase, and a large number of dislocation plugging, the region is strengthened, with the distance between the grinding ball and the WC phase decreases, the more obvious the strengthening effect, the stronger the workpiece anti-wear ability.