Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T00:40:52.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Low friction and severe wear of alumina in cryogenic environment: A first report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2006

Rohit Khanna  and
Bikramjit Basu
Rohit Khanna
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Advanced Ceramics, Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
Bikramjit Basu*
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Advanced Ceramics, Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: bikram@iitk.ac.in
Get access

Abstract

Structural ceramics are considered as potential candidate materials for use in hybrid bearings in rocket turbopumps, operated under high stress in cryogenic environment. The friction and wear-related surface failure is considered as one of the critical factors in selecting the materials for cryo-turbopumps of Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). To obtain fundamental understanding of the tribological properties of ceramics in cryogenic environment, a very first set of sliding wear tests were carried out on self-mated Al2O3, a model brittle ceramic material, in liquid nitrogen (LN2) under varying load (2–10 N) and high rotational speed of 2550 rpm, using a newly designed cryogenic tribometer. The present research attempts to answer some important questions: (i) What would be the influence of LN2 on frictional and fracture behavior at sliding contacts? (ii) How does the material removal process occur in LN2 environment? Our experimental results reveal that self-mated alumina exhibits low steady-state coefficient of friction ∼0.13–0.18 and suffers from high wear rate (10−5 mm3/Nm) under the selected testing conditions. The novelty of the present work also lies in presenting some interesting results, for the first time, concerning the deformation and fracture of alumina at cryogenic temperature under high speed sliding conditions. Detailed scanning electronic microscope observation of the worn surfaces indicates that severe damage of both ball and flat occurs in cryogenic environment by transgranular and intergranular fracture. The observed wear behavior is explained in terms of thermal heat dissipation and brittle fracture of alumina in LN2.

Keywords

CeramicFractureTribology
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , April 2006 , pp. 832 - 843
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Nosaka, M., Kikuchi, M., Oke, M., Kawai, N.: Tribo-characteristics of cryogenic hybrid ceramic ball bearings for rocket turbopumps: Bearing wear and transfer film. Tribol. Trans. 42, 106 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Nosaka, M., Takada, S., Kikuchi, M., Sudo, T., Yoshida, M.: Ultra-high speed performance of ball bearings and annular seals in liquid hydrogen at up to 3 million DN (120,000 rpm). Tribol. Trans. 47, 43 (2004).Google Scholar
3.Gradt, T., Schneider, T., Hübner, W., Börner, H.: Friction and wear at low temperatures. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 23, 397 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Kragelsky, I.V., Dobychin, M.N., Kombalow, V.S.: Friction and Wear (Permagon Press, Oxford, UK, 1982), p. 224.Google Scholar
5.Ostrovskaya, Ye. Le., Yukhno, T.P., Gamulya, G.D., Vvedenskij, Yu. V., Kuleba, V.I.: Low temperature tribology at the B. Verkin institute for low temperature physics and engineering (historical review). Tribol. Int. 34, 265 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Hübner, W.: Phase transformations in austenitic stainless steels during low temperature tribological stressing. Tribol. Int. 34, 231 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Hübner, W., Gradt, T., Schneider, T., Börner, H.: Tribological behaviour of materials at cryogenic temperatures. Wear 216, 150 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Andersson, P.: A study on dry and poorly lubricated alumina journal bearings. Finn. J. Tribol. 1, 97 (1993).Google Scholar
9.Rani, D. Amutha, Yoshizawa, Y., Hyuga, H., Hirao, K., Yamauchi, Y.: Tribological behavior of ceramic materials (Si3N4, SiC and Al2O3) in aqueous medium. J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. 24, 3279 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Ravikiran, A.: Influence of apparent pressure on wear behavior of self-mated alumina. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 83, 1302 (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Barceinas-Sánchez, J.D.O., Rainforth, W. M.: On the role of plastic deformation during the mild wear of alumina. Acta Mater. 46, 6475 (1998).Google Scholar
12.Jeng, M-C., Yan, L-Y.: Environmental effects on wear behaviour of alumina. Wear 161, 111 (1993).Google Scholar
13.Hsu, S.M., Shen, M.C.: Ceramic wear maps. Wear 200, 154 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Wang, Y., Hsu, S.M.: The effects of operating parameters and environment on the wear and wear transition of alumina. Wear 195, 90 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Xiong, F., Manory, R.R., Ward, L., Terheci, M., Lathabai, S.: Effect of grain size and test configuration on the wear behavior of alumina. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 80, 1310 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Komvopoulos, K., Li, H.: The effect of tribofilm formation and humidity on the friction and wear properties of ceramic materials. J. Tribol. 114, 131 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Hisakado, T.: Wear mechanism of ceramics and surface topography. J. Tribol. 108, 9 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Wang, Y.S., Hsu, S.M., Munro, R.G.: Ceramics wear maps: Alumina. Lubr. Eng. 47, 63 (1991).Google Scholar
19.Anstis, G.R., Chantikul, P., Lawn, B.R., Marshall, D.B.: A critical evaluation of indentation techniques for measuring fracture toughness: I. Direct crack measurements. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 64, 533 (1981).Google Scholar
20.Subramonian, B., Basu, B.: Development of a high-speed cryogenic tribometer: Design concept and experimental results. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 415, 72 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21. Japanese industrial standards committee: Testing methods for wear resistance of high performance of high performance ceramics by ball-on-disk method, JIS R 1613 (Japanese Standard Association, Tokyo, Japan, 1993).Google Scholar
22.Gates, R. S., Hsu, S. M., Kalus, E. E.: Tribochemical mechanism of alumina with water. Tribol. Trans. 32, 357 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.Takadoum, J.: Tribological behavior of alumina sliding on several kinds of materials. Wear 170, 285 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Andersson, P.: Water lubricated pin-on-disk tests with ceramics. Wear 154, 37 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Blomberg, A., Olsson, M., Hogmark, S.: Wear mechanisms and tribo mapping of Al2O3 and SiC in dry sliding. Wear 171, 77 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26.Kingery, W.D., Bowen, H.K., and Uhlmann, D.R.: Introduction to Ceramics, 2nd ed. (Wiley Interscience, New York, 2004), Chap. 12, pp. 615, 616, 619, 797.Google Scholar
27.Wigley, D.A.: Materials for Low Temperature Use, Engineering Design Guides, Vol. 26 (1978), pp. 32, 33.Google Scholar
28.Hsu, S.M., Shen, M.: Wear prediction of ceramics. Wear 256, 867 (2004).Google Scholar
29.Heuer, A.H.: Deformation twinning in corundum Philos. Mag. 142, 379 (1966).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30.Congleton, J., Petch, N.J.: Crack branching. Philos. Mag. 142, 749 (1967).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31.Davidge, R.W.: Mechanical Behavior of Ceramics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1979), p. 12.Google Scholar
32.Ota, K.: Elastic modulus and the measurement of structural ceramics at cryogenic temperatures. Cryogenics 35, 735 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33.Bhushan, B.: Principles and Applications of Tribology (Wiley Interscience, New York, 1999), p. 447.Google Scholar