Tribological Behavior of Babbitt Alloy Rubbing Against Si3N4 and Steel Under Dry Friction Condition

The tribological behavior of Babbitt alloy rubbing with Si 3 N 4 ball and steel ball with various sliding speeds at dry friction condition was investigated. It was found that B88 alloy rubbing with Si 3 N 4 ball and steel ball possesses a low sliding wear resistance at dry friction. The wear rate is above 10 −4 mm 3 /Nm, and the friction coefficient is from 0.2 to 0.4. At low sliding speed of 0.05-0.1 m/s, the mainly wear mechanisms are microgroove and fatigue wear, while at high sliding speed of 0.5 m/s, the wear mechanisms depend on plastic deformation and delamination. The high wear rate indicates that it is needed to prevent Babbitt alloy from working at dry friction conditions, while the low friction coefficient suggests that it is not easy to the occurrence of cold weld.