Fretting Wear of Spark Plasma Sintered Ti3SiC2/GNP Ceramic Composite Against Si3N4

Fretting wear characteristics of Ti3SiC2 reinforced with 1%, 3%, 5%, 10% and 15% graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) are presented in this paper. Ti3SiC2/GNP composite was developed using spark plasma sintering at a temperature of 1200 °C. The tests were conducted to investigate the effect of GNPs on the tribological properties of Ti3SiC2·Ti3SiC2/GNP composites fabricated through spark plasma sintering. Higher densification was obtained, resulting in higher values of Vickers Microhardness in the case of spark plasma sintered Ti3SiC2/GNP, as compared to Ti3SiC2. The friction coefficient and wear rate of GNP reinforced Ti3SiC2 composites were significantly improved, as compared to virgin Ti3SiC2. The composite with 15% GNP showed the lowest friction coefficient of 0.1416 and a wear rate of 5×10−5 mm3/Nm, whereas virgin Ti3SiC2 showed a higher coefficient of friction and wear rate of 0.3264 and 17.22×10−4 mm3/Nm, respectively. Although the formation of the oxide film was observed on the wear track, however, adhesive and delamination wear were observed as dominant wear mechanisms. The spark plasma sintering proved to be the most effective technique for increasing hardness and tribological properties of Ti3SiC2/GNP composite.