Dry Friction and Wear Characteristics of Rare-Earth／MoSiz Composite

The dry friction and wear characteristics of rare earth/MoSi2 composite against 45 steel under different loads were investigated by using an M-200 type friction and wear tester. SEM and XRD were used to analyze the morphology of the friction surface and the phase of worn piece in order to reveal the wear mechanism of rare-earth/MoSi2 composite. Results show that the relationships of friction coefficient, μ, or wear rate, W, of MoSi2 and RE/MoSi2 composite to loads,p, can be fitted well with the following function: μ (or W) = a bp cp2 dp3 ep4, where a, b, c, d and e are fitting constants depending on materials and confidence. MoSi2 and rare-earth/MoSi2 composite have excellent wear resis-tance. When load is in the range of 80 - 120 N, the wear rate of RE/MoSi2 composite is lower than that of MoSi2 materialby about 65 %. The main wear mechanism of rare-earth/MoSi2 composite is adhesive wear.