Tribological properties of bronze-graphite composites under sea water condition

Bronze-graphite composites containing 8.4∼15 wt% of Ni-coated graphite were fabricated by P/M method. The tribological properties were investigated under sea water condition. The friction coefficient of composites decreased with increasing graphite content. The wear resistance was improved by the addition of Ni-coated graphite but degraded at high graphite content. The results indicated that bronze-nickel coated graphite composites showed much better tribological properties in comparison with bronze and bronze-uncoated graphite composites. The composite with 11.7 wt% nickel coated graphite showed the best tribological properties. The addition of nickel coated graphite not only increased the mechanical properties, but improved tribological properties.