Tribological behaviors of (Ca, Mg)-sialon against steel with the lubrication of alcohols

The friction and wear behaviors of (Ca, Mg)-Sialon/GCr₁₅ steel couple lubricated by alcohols such as 1-propanol 1-butanol 1-hexanol 1-octanol and 1-decanol were investigated by SRV friction and wear tester in a ball-on-disk configuration. It was found that, as compared with dry sliding, all the alcohols not only reduced the friction coefficient of (Ca, Mg)-Sialon sliding against GCr15 steel significantly but also reduced the wear volume of (Ca, Mg)-Sialon considerably (1-2 order). Results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FT-IR) and GPC analyses showed that tribochemical reaction between (Ca, Mg)-Sialon and alcohols was involved in the friction process. The formation of Si-O-Si, Si-C and Si-O-C based friction-polymer on the rubbed surfaces is attributed to the excellent friction and wear reduction of alcohols. The lubrication mechanism of alcohols was propounded according to the experimental results and the references.