Improving abrasive wear resistance of Si₃N₄ ceramics with self-matching through tungsten induced tribochemical wear

Si₃N₄ ceramics with 0 vol% and 5 vol% tungsten particles were fabricated by gas pressure sintering. Commercial Si₃N₄ ceramic balls were used as the tribo-pair to test the influence of the tungsten particles on the wear resistance of Si₃N₄ ceramics. The tungsten particles in the samples were exfoliated and oxidized during the rubbing process. The tungsten oxide was uniformly doped into the wear debris, which turned the harmful exfoliated abrasives into a useful tribo-film. Compared with the monolithic Si₃N₄ ceramic, the abrasive wear of Si₃N₄ ceramics with introducing tungsten particles was almost eliminated, and the oxidative wear and surface fatigue were also reduced. The specific wear rate was reduced by more than an order of magnitude, from 4.70 × 10⁻⁶ mm³ N⁻¹·m⁻¹ to 3.78 × 10⁻⁷ mm³ N⁻¹·m⁻¹.