Reciprocating Sliding Wear Characteristics of Copper-Carbon Fiber Composites

The effects of fiber arrangements and elemental additives on the reciprocating sliding wear characteristics of copper-carbon fiber composites were studied. The results obtained were as follows: (1) The wear volume of the copper-carbon fiber composite was smaller than that of wear-resistant copper alloys. (2) The wear volume of the copper-carbon fiber composite became larger as the sliding load was increased or the volume fraction of carbon fiber was increased beyond 30 vol%. (3) As to the effects of sliding plane relative to fiber arrangement, wear volume was the smallest for random arrays of short fibers, intermediate in the sliding plane perpendicular to the unidirectional fiber axis and the largest in the sliding plane parallel to the fiber axis. (4) The wear volume of the composite was decreased by addition of Sn or Zr. Their additions, however, were ineffective in producing isotropic wear characteristics of the composite. (5) Isotropic wear characteristics of the composite were obtained by addition of graphite powder. Both isotropic wear characteristics and reduced wear volume were attained by a simultaneous addition of Zr and graphite powder.