Sliding wear behaviour of nanocrystalline Fe ₈₈Si ₁₂ alloy under low load and speed

Sliding wear behaviour of nanocrystalline Fe ₈₈Si ₁₂ alloys with different grain sizes has been investigated under low load and speed. The friction coefficient of the Fe ₈₈Si ₁₂ alloy changes slightly with the grain size, but the wear resistance improves as the grain size decreases. The reduction of the grain size of the Fe ₈₈Si ₁₂ alloy not only results in the hardness increase, but also is beneficial to form Fe ₂SiO ₄ film on the worn surface. The Fe ₂SiO ₄ layer can form on the worn surface of the Fe ₈₈Si ₁₂ alloy even under smaller applied load when the grain size decreases.