Revealing tribo–oxidation mechanisms of the copper–WC system under high tribological loading. (November 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, X.; Ma, Y.; Yang, Y.; Meng, A.; Han, Z.X.; Han, Z.; Zhao, Y.H.
• Is Part Of: Scripta materialia. Number 204(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-11
• Subjects: Tribology -- Oxidation -- Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) -- Atom probe tomography -- Copper; Materials -- Periodicals; Metallurgy -- Periodicals; Metalen; Legeringen; Materiaalkunde; Metals, metalworking and machinery industries; Metals; Electronic journals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2021.114142
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6462

Abstract

Abstract: The near-surface structural and chemical changes were investigated for pure copper against a tungsten carbide (WC) sphere during high tribological loading. Fundamental stages are identified in the Cu-WC tribo-system: (i) high tribological stress promotes grain refinement to the ultra-fine grains regime in the very beginning; (ii) nucleation of extremely fine (~3 nm) oxygen–enriched Cu nano particles in the near-surface layer and subsequent growth of the Cu2 O oxide; (iii) formation of continuous nanostructured mixing layer with heterogeneous Cu and O distribution in the late stage. Near-surface mechanical mixing is presumably the main contribution to chemical modifications under high tribological loading. Our findings shed atomic-insights into intricate tribochemical modifications, one of the most intriguing phenomena in material-oriented tribology. Graphical Abstract: Image, graphical abstract