Dry‐sliding wear behavior of 3Y‐ TZP /Al 2 O 3 ‐NbC nanocomposites produced by conventional sintering and spark plasma sintering

This work presents the initial results of the dry‐sliding wear behavior of 3 mol% yttria‐stabilized zirconia reinforced with 5 vol% alumina‐niobium carbide (3Y‐ TZP /5 vol% Al 2 O 3 ‐NbC) nanocomposites sintered by conventional sintering and spark plasma sintering methods in the temperature range of 1350‐1450°C. The reinforcement of 3Y‐ TZP matrix with hard nanoparticles aimed to improve wear strength of the composites. Wear tests were performed by the ball‐on‐disc method using alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) and tungsten carbide with 6 wt% cobalt cermet ( WC ‐6%Co) balls as counter‐materials, a load of 15 N, a sliding distance of 2000 m, and a sliding speed of 0.1 m/s. Wear behavior was evaluated in terms of wear rate and FE ‐ SEM micrograph analysis of the wear tracks. The nanocomposite sintered at 1450°C by conventional sintering exhibited the least wear when tested with the WC ‐6%Co ball. Generally, the wear mechanism showed evidence of severe wear regime with both counter‐materials.