Investigations of wear response of pure Mg and Mg-0.4 Ce-Y2O3/ZnO nano composites using a single and repeated scratch tests

This work examines the micrometer-scale wear behavior of pure Mg and its composites at various loads (100-500mN) under single and multiple scratch conditions. The Mg-0.4Ce alloy reinforced with nanoparticles of zinc oxide (ZnO) and yttrium oxide (Y2O3) is investigated. The effect of reinforcement addition on wear characteristics and the coefficient of friction (COF) was evaluated. Moreover, the influence of number of scratches on wear quantification and wear mechanism was deduced at different loads. The results suggest that both the mechanical and tribological performance of ZnO-reinforced composite is significantly better than that of the Y2O3-reinforced composite, which can be attributed to a low COF and higher strengthening due to ZnO addition.