168

THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY DUNREA DE JOS OF GALAI FASCICLE VIII, TRIBOLOGY 2003 ISSN 1221-4590

TRIBOLOGICAL FEATURES OF PM IRON-COPPER BASED MATERIALS

Cristina Teianu1, Andrei Tudor2, tefan Gheorghe1, Ion Ciupitu1
1

University of Craiova, 2 Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romnia cteisanu@mecanica.ucv.ro

ABSTRACT
New antifriction materials based on iron-copper powders with several addition elements such as tin, lead and molybdenum disulphide have been developed by PM techniques in order to improve antifriction and mechanical properties. The powder mixtures have been uniaxially cold compacted at 500 MPa obtaining cylindrical specimens and sintered in dry hydrogen atmosphere at 900C for 50 minutes. The tribological behaviour of the selected iron-copper based alloys has been analysed by pin on disc tests without lubrication and the coefficient of friction and wear rate have been studied in order to identify the effect of the base material composition. Also, the wear surface scars and the microstructure of the wear surfaces have been investigated. KEYWORDS: Iron-Copper based alloys, friction coefficient, wear rate.

1. INTRODUCTION
Technical and economical advantages of the P/M technique lead to performing a wide type of new materials and products with special characteristics required by modern technique [1]. In the recent years the iron base sintered bearings production was considerable increased at the expense of the copper based ones, due to the low cost and availability of the iron powders as well as the higher strength. The mechanical properties of a part are strongly related to the composition of the materials. For tribological applications, the properties of the surface are related to the different metallic and intermetallic phases formed in the material. In order to meet the requirements of future possible applications, it is important to improve the existing and develop new methods of enhancing the applied properties. This may be achieved by efficient alloying, using efficient combinations of alloying elements [2]. Sintered iron base antifriction materials were not developed until the last decade because of poor corrosion resistance and antifriction properties. Considering the low cost and availability of iron, additions such as copper, graphite, manganese, lead and tin to iron have been attempted, but improvement in one property was offset by a decrease in other properties [3, 4, 5, 6]. In order to improve antifriction and mechanical properties, the present paper focused on the development of Fe-Cu-Sn-Pb-MoS2 antifriction alloy [7, 8, 9, 10].

The reasons for non-uniformity density distribution are friction between powder particles and die, and internal friction between powder particles. Because of its lamellar structure, MoS2 is one of the most popular and usable solid lubricants [11, 12]. MoS2 might be used for the reduction of powder particles die wall friction as well as interparticle friction during conventional cold die compaction [13]. Most of the machine tools parts having functional role are removed due to the wear of the contact surfaces being in relative movement [14]. Friction and wear does not represent material properties, but show a response of the system. Dry friction or Coulomb friction refers to the tangential component of the contact force between two dry surfaces being in relative movement one to another or when only one surface is moving. Wear can be produced by removing the material from the contact surface, so the solid body properties at the surface or on a small depth are damaged without material loss. Wear can also be produced by detachment the material from the surface and its transfer to the counterpart surface or by loosing the material as wear particles [15, 16].

2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
As experimental materials iron powder produced by DUCTIL S.A. BUZAU (DP 200 HD), electrolytic copper powder, tin powder, lead powder and molybdenum disulphide powder, which was added as solid lubricant, were used. Elemental

THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY DUNREA DE JOS OF GALAI FASCICLE VIII, TRIBOLOGY 2003 ISSN 1221-4590

169

powders of Fe, Cu, Sn, Pb and MoS2 were weighed to selected proportions and mixed for 1 hour in a 3D homogenization device. The powder mixtures were compacted at a pressure of 500MPa obtaining 10mm cylindrical specimens and sintered at 900C for 50 minutes in a uniform heating furnace. The sintering atmosphere was dry hydrogen with a flow rate of 1L/min. The samples were furnace cooled by switching off the power and maintaining the same flow rate of the hydrogen gas. Experimental conditions and the composition of the powder mixtures are presented in Table 1 and Table 2. The densities of the sintered samples were ranged between 6.5 6.9g/cm3. Table 1. Composition of the powder mixtures Iron Copper Tin Lead MoS2 Alloy wt % wt % wt % wt % wt % 1 rest 5 1 7.5 1 2 rest 5 1.5 5 1 3 rest 5 2.5 2.5 1 Table 2. Sintering conditions Sintering temperature [C] 900 Holding time [min.] 50 Atmosphere dry hydrogen Mechanical properties of the selected materials are given in table 3. Table 3. Mechanical characteristics of the tested alloys. Material 1 2 3 Characteristics Relative density [g/cm3] 6.7-7 6.5-6.8 6.5-6.7 Total porosity [%] 16.9 18.75 17.4 Tensile strength [MPa] 144 155 180 Vickers hardness 106 125 140 The friction coefficient was calculated based on formula (1), during a sliding distance of 1360 m: Ff (1) = F where Ff is the friction force and F is the resulting force acting on the lever. Tribological behavior of the sintered samples was analyzed under dry friction conditions by pin on disc tests using a testing device for friction coefficient and wear rate measurements (fig.1) at a sliding speed of 0.75 m/s and a pxv value of 2.8 MPa m/s. The mating disc was made of OLC45 with 235 HB. The wear rate for selected materials sintered at 900C for 50 minutes was evaluated at a pxv value of 2.8 MPa m/s and calculated in terms of the final high of the sample per sliding distance and in terms of the final volume of the tested sample per sliding distance using reference densities.

Fig. 1 Testing device for friction coefficient and wear rate measurements: 1 weight; 2 ruler; 3 pin sample; 4 pin sample fixing part; 5 mating disc; 6 rigid frame; 7 driving shaft; 8 trapezoidal transmission; 9 elastic lamella; 10 lever. Linear wear rate and gravimetric wear rate were determined as following: h final Ih = [mm/m] (2) L sliding
Ig = V final L sliding

[mm3/m]

(3)

The wear surface aspect was standing out by SEM images.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Friction coefficient

Specimens for wear experiments (cylindrical pieces of 10 mm diameter and 7 mm height) were produced under specified conditions and the wear tests were carried out using a pin on disc device without lubricant. The effect of the lead content on the coefficient of friction for samples sintered 900C for 50 minutes and tested at pxv value of 2.8MPa m/s is shown in figure 2 and the values of the friction coefficient are presented in table 4.

170

THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY DUNREA DE JOS OF GALAI FASCICLE VIII, TRIBOLOGY 2003 ISSN 1221-4590

0.2
F iction coefficient ,

0.15 0.1 0.05 0 2.5 5

Pb [% ]

wear rates for samples with different Pb additions sintered in specified conditions and figure 4 shows the gravimetric wear rates as function of Pb content. Table 5. Linear and gravimetric wear rates of the selected materials. 3 Dh Lslide -8 DVx10 Ihx10 I x10-2 Alloy 3 [m] [mm] [mm ] g 1 1360 0.55 40.4 0.154 11.3 2 1360 0.34 25 0.148 10.8 3 1360 0.24 17.6 0.135 9.8 From figures 3 and 4 it can be observed that the wear rates (linear and gravimetric) of the material containing 2.5% Pb and tested at a pxv value of 2.8 MPa m/s exhibited the lowest value of the wear rate. The dependence of the wear volume on sliding distance for all composition materials sintered at 900C can be observed in figure 5.
50
I hx10 -8 [mm/m]

7.5

Fig. 2 The influence of the lead content on the friction coefficient. Table 4. Friction coefficient values of the studied materials. p pxv Alloy F [N] Ff [N] v [m/s] [MPa] 1 325 58.7 0.754 3.72 2.8 0.18 2 325 58.1 0.754 3.72 2.8 0.17 3 325 32.5 0.754 3.72 2.8 0.1 The higher value of the coefficient of friction is attributed to the material containing 1% Sn and 7.5% Pb and for the composition with 2.5% Pb and 2.5% Sn the lower value of the coefficient of friction is observed. This may be possibly due to the presence of some soft phases like CuPb and FeCS which has low share strength in the substrate and is exposed to sliding due to high load. Generally, the trend of the friction coefficient variation can be explained on the basis of the hardness and tensile strength variation with the chemical composition (tab. 3). Thus, the friction coefficient varies direct proportional with the tensile strength and indirect proportional with the hardness [17]. The samples with 5% Pb have the similar variation of the friction coefficient to that of the hardness, which does not conform to the friction coefficient and hardness relationship, where the friction coefficient is inversely proportional to the hardness. The explanation can be attributed to the non-uniform distribution of the softer and harder phases at the surface of the material.

40 30 20 10 0 2.5 5
Pb [% ]

7.5

Fig. 3 The influence of the lead content on the linear wear rate.
11.5
I g x10-2 [mm 3 /m]

11 10.5 10 9.5 9 2.5 5

Pb [% ]

7.5

3.2. Wear rate

The wear rate values for selected materials sintered at 900C for 50 minutes and tested at ( p v ) value of 2.8MPa m/s are calculated in terms of the final high of the sample per sliding distance and in terms of the final volume of the tested sample per sliding distance using reference densities. The wear was determined by measuring the high of the samples and by weighing the specimens and the results represent the average values for three experiments. The linear wear rate and the gravimetric wear rate are presented in table 5. Figure 3 shows linear
3

Fig. 4 The influence of the lead content on the gravimetric wear rate.
0.15 wear volume [cm ] 0.1 0.05 0 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 sliding distance [m] 1 2 3

325 N

Fig. 5 Wear volume as a function of sliding distance.

THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY DUNREA DE JOS OF GALAI FASCICLE VIII, TRIBOLOGY 2003 ISSN 1221-4590

171

3.3. Wear surface

Figures 6, 8 and 10 show the representative wear surfaces of the samples with 2.57.5% Pb sintered at 900C for 50 minutes and tested at a pxv value of 2.8 MPa m/s.

Also, during the wear process the rolling and undulating of the marginal zone material as the exfoliation of the material can be observed (fig. 7). This behavior is typical of soft and ductile materials and may be explained by the great amount of lead in the material composition.

100m

100m

Fig. 6 Wear scars of Fe-5%Cu-1%Sn-7.5%Pb1%MoS2 sintered at 900C for 50 minutes. Also, the marginal zones of the samples highlighting the material behavior during wear process can be observed in figures 7, 9 and 11. In order to study surface damage the worn specimens were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on the wear surface. It is evident from figures 6, 8 and 10 that the scoring wear has occur both by adhesive and abrasive mechanisms with transfer and micro cutting of the tested material in all compositions.

Fig. 8 Wear scars of Fe-5%Cu-1.5%Sn-5%Pb1%MoS2 sintered at 900C for 50 minutes. The wear surface of the sample made from Fe5%Cu-1.5%Sn-5%Pb-1%MoS2 sintered at 900C for 50 minutes and tested at a sliding speed of 0.754 m/s and a loading force of 2.8MPa m/s in dry friction conditions shows less deep scores, but the wear surface is more roughness and the detached wear particles from the sample surface can be observed (fig. 8). Similarly, the rolling and the exfoliation of the marginal zone material of the sample is produced, but in reduced proportion due to smaller amount of lead (fig. 9). The ductile character of the material observed on microscopic scale by cone cup aspect of the interparticle bridges can be also highlighted on macroscopic scale by plastic deformation processes, which are slowly develop during the wear process.

500m

Fig. 7 The marginal zone of Fe-5%Cu-1%Sn7.5%Pb-1%MoS2 sintered at 900C for 50 minutes. In the case of the wear test of the material Fe5%Cu-1%Sn7.5%Pb1%MoS2 at a sliding speed of 0.754 m/s and a loading force of 2.8 MPa m/s in dry friction conditions the wear surface presents deep scores, which form on sliding direction due to strong adhesion between roughs in contact (fig. 6). The superficial layers are modified and the oxide films are damaged by plastic deformation.

250m

Fig. 9 The marginal zone of Fe-5%Cu-1.5%Sn5%Pb-1%MoS2 sintered at 900C for 50 minutes.

172

THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY DUNREA DE JOS OF GALAI FASCICLE VIII, TRIBOLOGY 2003 ISSN 1221-4590

system with 2.5% Sn and 2.5% Pb additions sintered at 900C for 50 minutes. At the pxv value of 2.8MPa m/s the friction coefficient is about 0.1, the linear wear rate has the lowest value of 17.6x10-8 mm/m and also the gravimetric wear rate has the lowest value of 9.8x10-2 mm3/m. Studying the friction and the wear process of the cylindrical samples made from the selected materials and tested in dry friction condition (without lubricant) it was observed the decrease of the friction coefficient as the lead content is diminished or the tin content is increased. The linear wear rate and the gravimetric wear rate are reduced as the amount of lead is decreased.

100m

REFERENCES
1. Saunders J. P., Nurthen P. D., Trilk N., 1996, Advanced in Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials, Proc. of the World Cong. on Powder Metall. and Particulate Mat., pp. 113-126. 2. Salak A., 1995, Ferrous Powder Metallurgy, Cambridge International Science Publishing, Cambridge. 3. Watanabe T., Iwatsu O, 1984, Effects of Chemical Composition and Sintering Temperature on the Properties of IronTin and Iron-Tin-Copper Sintered Alloys for Porous Bearings, Reports of the Casting Research Laboratory, pp. 19. 4. Watanabe T., Park C. S., Kim Y. C., 1988, On the Phenomena Appearing During the Sintering Process of Iron-Tin Mixed Powder Compacts, Reports of the Casting Research Laboratory, pp. 17. 5. Takata J., Kawai N., 1995 Dimensional changes during sintering of iron based powders, Powder Metallurgy, pp. 209-213. 6. Domsa A., 1970, Effect of Copper Addition on the Bearing Properties of Sintered Iron-Graphite, Perspectives in Powder Metallurgy, pp. 273. 7. Teisanu C., Sontea S., 1999, Wear iron powders based alloys, International Conferences DF PM99, pp. 226. 8. Teisanu C., Sontea S., 2000, Studies concerning the compressibility and sintering of iron powder based alloys, Proceedings of the International Powder Metallurgy and Materials Congress, pp. 1755. 9. Teisanu C., Ciupitu I., Mangra M., Gheorghe St., 2001, The microstructure influence on mechanical properties of the sintered iron base alloys, International Conference on Advanced Materials Processing Technologies AMPT01, pp. 1607. 10. Teisanu C., Sontea S., 2000, The influence of the various factors on the dimensional changes on sintering of Fe-Cu-Sn-Pb powder compacts, Second International Conferences on Powder Metallurgy, RoPM2000, pp. 401. 11. Iliuc I., 1980, Tribology of Thin Layers, New York. 12. Sustarsic B., Kosec K., 1998, Engineering Properties of FeMoS2 Powder Mixtures, Proc. of the PM World Congr. & Exhib., pp. 316-321. 13. Hutchings I. M., 1992, Tribology, Friction and Wear of Engineering Materials, Edward Arnold, London. 14. Bhushan, B., 1999, Principles and Applications of Tribology, Wiley, New York. 15. Bayer R. G., 1994, Mechanical Wear Prediction and Prevention, Marcel Dekker, New York. 16. Bhushan B., Gupta B. K., 1997, Handbook of Tribology Materials, Coatings and Surface Treatments, McGraw-Hill, New York. 17. Teisanu C., 2001, Studii asupra dezvoltarii aliajelor antifrictiune pe baza de fier (Studies concerning the development of the iron base antifriction alloys), Ph.D. Thesis, University of Craiova.

Fig. 10 Wear scars of Fe-5%Cu-1.5%Sn-5%Pb1%MoS2 sintered at 900C for 50 minutes.

250m

Fig. 11 The marginal zone of Fe-5%Cu-2.5%Sn2.5%Pb-1%MoS2 sintered at 900C for 50 minutes. As it can seen the material containing 2.5% Sn and 2.5% Pb and sintered in the same conditions as the other two materials has the higher value of the hardness and the friction coefficient and wear rates have acceptable values. The wear surface of this material has a less roughness aspect with finer scores and a smaller number of particles detached from the sample surface due to failure of the welding bridges between the contact micro-zones (fig. 10). A lesser amount of marginal zone material is rolled and exfoliated (fig. 11).

4. CONCLUSIONS
From the results and observations concerning the mechanical and tribological behavior of the selected sintered materials it was concluded the improved properties of the Fe-Cu-Sn-Pb-MoS2