Wear behaviour of nanocrystalline Fe₈₈Si₁₂ alloy in water environment

Wear behaviour of nanocrystalline Fe₈₈Si₁₂ alloy has been investigated in water environment compared with the coarse grained counterpart. The friction coefficient of the Fe₈₈Si₁₂ alloy changes slightly with the grain size. The wear resistance is enhanced as the grain size decreases first and then reduces when the grain size continues to decrease, although the hardness of the Fe₈₈Si₁₂ alloy decreases monotonically with the grain size. It is contrary to the predications of Archard's formula. The best wear resistance of Fe₈₈Si₁₂ alloy with grain size of 40 nm in our present work is attributed to the proper grain boundary volume fraction and composite phase structures of disordered B2 and ordered D0₃.