Wear 254 (2003) 532537

Microstructures and wear properties of brass synchroniser rings

H. Mindivan, H. imenoglu, E.S. Kayali
Metallurgy and Materials Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, 80626 Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey
Received 30 July 2002; accepted 6 January 2003

Abstract
In this study, the wear behaviour of synchroniser rings produced from a ( + ) high-strength brass was investigated under dry sliding
conditions by pin on disc and reciprocating wear tests. Pin on disc tests were conducted on M2 quality high speed tool steel and 120-mesh
Al2 O3 abrasive papers. AISI 52100 quality steel balls were used in reciprocating tests as counterface. A correlation between microstructure,
hardness and wear resistance was established for the investigated synchroniser rings. An increase of -phase from 8 to 23 vol.% decreased
the hardness from 281 to 250 HV and increased the wear resistance. Depending on the type of wear test and counterface, the increment in
wear resistance is found in between 15 and 80%.
2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Abrasion; Brass; Synchroniser; Wear

1. Introduction
Synchronisers are used in almost all manual gear boxes
of vehicles. Synchroniser rings have been widely adopted in
manual transmissions to make gear shifting much smoother.
The synchromesh mechanism achieves speed matching by
dragging the components to a matching speed with the synchroniser rings. Since friction between the idler and synchroniser ring is essential for the synchromesh mechanism,
synchronisers need machining of grooves on the friction surfaces. They perform the synchronising function very well
when new, but degrade with use because the grooves disappear as a result of wear. Synchroniser rings are made
of brass or steels coated with molybdenum. Molybdenum
coated steel synchroniser rings have higher costs than brass
synchroniser rings [1].
In the automobile industry, particularly in the manufacturing of components, where resistance to wear is the chief
requirement, high-strength brasses are commonly used.
High-strength brasses are suitable mainly for engineering
areas where high strength to support heavy loads and/or
high resistance to wear and corrosion are required. The
main advantages of high-strength brasses are further improvement of mechanical properties by heat treatment as
well as their low cost [27].

Corresponding author. Tel.: +90-212-285-3536;

fax: +90-212-285-3427.
E-mail address: kayali@itu.edu.tr (E.S. Kayali).

High-strength brasses can be mainly classified as +

or brasses, depending on the phases present in their microstructures. In CuZn binary system, -phase can dissolve
maximum 39% Zn at about 460 C and has f.c.c. crystal
structure. -phase, which is stable between 45.5 and 49%
Zn, has disordered b.c.c. crystal structure at high temperatures. At about 454 C, an order/disorder transition takes
place [8]. Alloying elements such as aluminium, silicon,
iron, manganese, and tin are added to these brasses to ensure
high service performance by entering to the solid solution
and/or forming intermetallic compounds in the microstructure. In the case of alloys containing additions of silicon and
manganese, manganese silicide (Mn5 Si3 ) intermetallic compounds are formed. These intermetallic compounds have a
hexagonal crystal structure and high hardness and give the
alloy a high wear resistance [2,3,6].
In a CuZn system, optimum wear behaviour is reported
for 25% Zn content, while an increase of Zn to 48% improved the hardness without giving better wear performance
[9]. On the other hand, the lowest wear rate was obtained
when the microstructure was composed of -phase with
about 25% of -phase located mainly at grain boundaries [5].
According to Sadykov et al. [7], ultra fine grained (23 m)
+ brass exhibits wear resistance higher than both heat
treated -phase and coarse-grained + phase brasses.
In this study, wear behaviour of synchroniser rings, which
are manufactured from a high-strength + brass in four
processing steps (sand casting, hot forging, machining and
tempering) was examined to establish the relationship between microstructure and wear performance.

0043-1648/03/$ see front matter 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0043-1648(03)00023-1

H. Mindivan et al. / Wear 254 (2003) 532537

Fig. 1. One of the synchroniser ring examined in this study. The outer
and inner diameters are approximately 130 and 112 mm, respectively.

2. Experimental procedure
This investigation was conducted on four synchroniser
rings having nominal compositions of 63% Cu, 8% Mn, 4%
Al, 1% Si and 20% Zn [10]. Fig. 1 shows one of the synchroniser rings utilised in this investigation. The manufacturer declared that they are taken from the same batch but
their processing conditions are not exactly the same.
Metallographic studies, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis
and microhardness measurements were carried out for the
synchroniser rings to characterise their microstructures. Microstructures of the investigated synchroniser rings were examined by light optical microscope (LOM) after grinding,
polishing, and etching in standard manner. The etchant was
composed of 5 g FeCl3 , 95 ml alcohol (methane) and 2 ml
HCl. XRD with Cu K radiation was used to analyse the
constituent phases in the microstructure. Volume fraction of
the microstructural constituents was quantified on metallographic samples prepared from five different regions of each
synchroniser rings by Zeiss Apiotech Vanio optical microscope in conjunction with a computer having KS 400 image analysis software program. Microhardness measurement
was also carried out on metallographic samples under the
load of 200 g with a Vickers indenter. For each synchroniser
ring, ten hardness measurements were made on the samples.
Room temperature dry sliding wear behaviour of the synchroniser rings was examined by a pin on disc and a reciprocating wear tester. Pin on disc wear tests were carried out
under metalmetal and metalabrasive testing configurations
with a normal load of 27 N, where the relative humidity of
the environment varied between 50 and 60%. M2 quality
high speed tool steel disc (65 HRC) and 120-mesh Al2 O3
abrasive papers were used as counterfaces for metalmetal
and metalabrasive test configurations, respectively. During
metalmetal tests, pins were continuously in contact with the
same circular path on the disc, whilst they followed a spiral
path on the abrasive paper so that they always passed over
fresh abrasive grains throughout the metalabrasive wear

533

tests. Pin on disc wear test specimens (pins) were machined

from the thick sections of the synchroniser rings with 4 mm
tip diameter. Contact surfaces of the pins were finished with
1 m Al2 O3 paste after grinding. Metalmetal wear tests
were performed for a sliding distance of 10 km with a sliding speed of 0.3 m/s. The sliding distance and speed of the
pins on the abrasive paper was 3 m and 0.15 m/s, respectively. The results of the wear tests were analysed according
to weight loss. Weight losses of the pins were determined
by measuring the weights before and after the wear tests,
nearest to 0.1 mg.
Reciprocating wear tests were carried out at room temperature by applying normal loads of 1.3 and 3.4 N to the
plate samples with a 10 mm diameter steel (AISI 52100)
ball. Humidity of the environment varied between 70 and
80% during the tests. The surfaces of the plate samples
machined from the synchronising rings were polished with
1 m Al2 O3 paste after grinding. During the tests, sliding
speed was 0.02 m/s for the total sliding distance of 240 m.
The stroke of the balls on the plate samples was 12 mm. After the tests, the wear tracks developed on the surfaces were
detected by a profilometer. The results of the reciprocating
wear test were based on 2D profile images of the wear tracks.
Wear performance of the examined synchroniser rings
were evaluated by taking the average of two successive pin
on disc (metalmetal and metalabrasive) and reciprocating
wear test results. After the wear tests, the worn surfaces of
the specimens were examined by a scanning electron microscope (SEM).

3. Results and discussion

LOM photographs and XRD pattern of the examined synchroniser rings are depicted in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively.
The XRD pattern consists of a Cu rich -phase, a Zn rich
-phase and a Mn5 Si3 type intermetallic compound. Microscopic examinations revealed that, in the microstructures
light coloured needle shaped -phase precipitated in dark
coloured -phase matrix. Mn5 Si3 intermetallics are gray
in colour. Volume fractions of Mn5 Si3 intermetallics were
about 4% for all of the investigated synchroniser rings, while
-phase volume fractions are listed in Table 1. The balance
was -phase. Microhardness measurements revealed that the
average hardness of the investigated synchroniser rings varied in the range between 250 and 281 HV depending on
the volume fraction of -phase. As can be seen in Table 1,
Table 1
Image analysis and hardness results of the investigated synchroniser rings
Sample

Volume fraction of -phase (%)

1
2
3
4

8.4
14.1
19.3
23.0

2.5
1.0
2.0
1.5

Hardness, HV (kg/mm2 )
281
267
260
250

2
4
3
4

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H. Mindivan et al. / Wear 254 (2003) 532537

Fig. 2. LOM photographs of the examined synchronising rings: (a) Sample 1, (b) Sample 2, (c) Sample 3 and (d) Sample 4.

the higher the amount of -phase in the microstructure, the

lower is the hardness of the synchroniser rings.
The results of pin on disc wear tests of the examined
synchronising rings are presented in Fig. 4 with respect to
-phase content. Both metalmetal and metalabrasive wear
test results reveal that weight loss decreases with increasing

Fig. 3. XRD pattern of sample 4.

-phase volume fraction. According to Fig. 4, increase of

-phase from 8 to 23 vol.% increased the metalmetal and
metalabrasive wear resistance of the synchronising rings
about 25 and 15%, respectively.
Worn surfaces of the samples after metalmetal and
metalabrasive tests are shown in Figs. 5 and 6, respectively.
Wear surfaces of the samples worn on M2 quality steel

Fig. 4. Results of pin on disc wear tests as a function of -phase volume

fraction.

H. Mindivan et al. / Wear 254 (2003) 532537

535

Fig. 5. SEM photographs of the surfaces of the pins worn on M2 quality tool steel: (a) Sample 1 and (b) Sample 4.

Fig. 6. SEM photographs of the worn surfaces of the pins worn on Al2 O3 abrasive papers: (a) Sample 1 and (b) Sample 4.

disc are smooth. On the metalmetal contact surfaces, limited plastic deformations with narrow and shallow parallel
grooves are evident. Electron probe microanalysis has not
revealed any iron and chromium elements detached from
the counterface steel disc on the contact surfaces of brass
pins. Local adhesion of pin material to the surface of the
disc might be responsible for these fine grooves. Relatively

wider and deeper grooves were observed on metalabrasive

contact surfaces with some embedded abrasive Al2 O3 particles. Abraded surface topographies indicate the dominant
wear mechanism as ploughing.
The results of reciprocating wear tests are given in Fig. 7
as 2D profile images of the wear tracks. Wider and deeper
wear tracks were developed on the surfaces with decreasing

Fig. 7. 2D profile images of the wear tracks produced on the surfaces of: (a) Sample 1 and (b) Sample 4 under normal load of 1.3 N.

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H. Mindivan et al. / Wear 254 (2003) 532537

volume fraction of -phase. The performance of the synchroniser rings during reciprocating wear tests were quantified by measuring the area of the wear tracks. The variation
of the wear track area with the volume fraction of -phase is
shown in Fig. 8. As for the pin on disc tests, the reciprocating
wear tests also give similar trend between wear resistance
of synchronising rings and volume fraction of -phase. The
increase of -phase from 8 to 23 vol.% increased the reciprocating wear resistance about 45 and 80% for test loads of
1.3 and 3.4 N, respectively.
Figs. 9 and 10 depict the SEM photographs of the centres of the wear tracks produced on the surfaces of the synchronising rings by the steel ball under the normal loads of
1.3 and 3.4 N, respectively. During reciprocating wear tests,
wear was progressed by ploughing action of the ball by forming grooves in the wear tracks aligned parallel to the reciprocating sliding direction. In some regions of wear tracks,
microcracks perpendicular to the sliding direction were observed. These microcracks, which indicate the possible wear
mechanism as fatigue, were much more apparent for low

Fig. 8. Results of reciprocating wear tests as a function of -phase volume

fraction.

Fig. 9. SEM photographs of the wear tracks produced on the surfaces of: (a) Sample 1 and (b) Sample 4 under normal load of 1.3 N.

Fig. 10. SEM photographs of the wear tracks produced on the surfaces of: (a) Sample 1 and (b) Sample 4 under normal load of 3.4 N.

H. Mindivan et al. / Wear 254 (2003) 532537

volume fractions of -phase. Microcracking was more frequently observed with the increase of test load, especially
when the -phase volume fraction is low.
The results of pin on disc (metalmetal and metalabrasive)
and reciprocating wear tests carried out in this study are in
good agreement with the result of Waheed and Ridley [6],
who studied dry sliding wear behaviour of a Cu41%Zn
binary alloy. These researchers attributed the reduction in
wear rate with increasing volume fraction of -phase to
toughening of the material due to blunting of cracks when
they reach the -phase.

4. Conclusion
In this study, room temperature dry sliding wear behaviour of synchroniser rings manufactured from a +
high-strength brass was investigated by pin on disc (for
metalmetal and metalabrasive configurations) and reciprocating wear tests.
Increase of -phase present in the microstructures of synchroniser rings from 8 to 23 vol.%, decreased the hardness
from 281 to 250 HV, but increased the wear resistance. Depending on the type of wear test and counterface the increment in wear resistance of synchroniser rings is found in
between 15 and 80%.

537

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Dr. H. Kazdal Zeytin for her
help in image analysis. The assistance of Mrs. Candan Ayhan
in SEM examinations is also appreciated.
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