Tribological Property and Wear Mechanism of NbMoZrVSi x Refractory High-Entropy Alloy Strengthened by Eutectic Structure
WANG Hanming, DU Yin(), PEI Xuhui, WANG Haifeng()
Center of Advanced Lubrication and Seal Materials, State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China
Cite this article:
WANG Hanming, DU Yin, PEI Xuhui, WANG Haifeng. Tribological Property and Wear Mechanism of NbMoZrVSi x Refractory High-Entropy Alloy Strengthened by Eutectic Structure. Acta Metall Sin, 2024, 60(7): 937-946.
In recent years, refractory high-entropy alloys (RHEAs) have gained widespread attention owing to their high structural stability and excellent mechanical properties at both room and elevated temperatures. However, their wear resistance at room temperature is often poor due to their fragility. In this study, the effect of adding small amounts of silicon (Si) to NbMoZrV RHEA on its tribological properties and wear mechanism at room temperature have been studied using various techniques including tribometer, SEM, and XPS. The results showed that adding a moderate amount of Si induced the homogeneous precipitation of a eutectic structure composed of Zr-Zr3Si phase at the bcc matrix grain boundary. This eutectic structure significantly improved the hardness and wear resistance of the NbMoZrVSi0.1 RHEA. Unlike the poor tribological behavior observed in NbMoZrVSi0.05 and NbMoZrVSi0.2 RHEAs, the NbMoZrVSi0.1 RHEA exhibited stable coefficient of friction and wear rate under dry sliding wear test at room temperature with varying normal loads. The Zr-Zr3Si eutectic structure effectively inhibited the initiation and propagation of cracks and brittle spalling during the sliding wear test, resulting in only slight abrasive wear of the NbMoZrVSi0.1 RHEA. Moreover, the mechanism promoted the subsequent homogeneous oxidation of the worn surface.
Fig.2 BSE images of as-cast NbMoZrVSi x alloys (Insets show the enlarged views of the corresponding images) (a) Si0 (b) Si0.05 (c) Si0.1 (d) Si0.2
Fig.3 BSE images and corresponding EDS element distribution maps of Si0-Si0.2 alloys (a) Si0 (b) Si0.05 (c) Si0.1 (d) Si0.2
Fig.4 BSE image and EDS element distribution maps of Si0.1 alloy eutectic structure (a) BSE image of Si0.1 alloy (b) high magnification image of eutectic structure in Fig.4a and EDS mappings
Point
Si
V
Zr
Nb
Mo
1
34.67
2.18
53.71
9.44
0.00
2
35.26
2.18
52.24
10.13
0.19
3
35.24
2.63
51.93
10.20
0.00
4
20.52
3.85
59.56
16.04
0.00
5
31.77
2.52
55.94
9.75
0.00
6
4.03
27.30
33.21
20.21
15.23
7
20.50
3.54
60.77
14.90
0.26
8
1.61
8.02
66.84
22.29
1.21
Table 1 EDS result of points shown in Figs.3d and 4b
Fig.5 Hardnesses of Si0-Si0.2 alloys
Fig.6 Tribological test results of Si0-Si0.2 alloys (a) coefficient of friction (COF) curves vs distance under 5 N-5 Hz-30 min condition (b) COF vs distance curves under 10 N-5 Hz-120 min condition (c) wear rate under the two conditions (d, e) cross-section depth profiles of the wear track under the conditions of 5 N-5 Hz-30 min (d) and 10 N-5 Hz-120 min (e)
Fig.7 SEM images and corresponding EDS of wear surface of Si0-Si0.2 alloys after dry sliding under 5 N-5 Hz-30 min conditions (a) Si0 (b) Si0.05 (c) Si0.1 (d) Si0.2
Fig.8 SEM images of wear surfaces of Si0-Si0.2 alloys after dry sliding under 10 N-5 Hz-120 min conditions (a) Si0 (b) Si0.05 (c) Si0.1 (d) Si0.2
Fig.9 Individual element XPS spectra of the wear debris of the Si0-Si0.2 alloys under 5 N-5 Hz-30 min conditions (a) Si0 (b) Si0.05 (c) Si0.1 (d) Si0.2
Fig.10 Low (a, c) and high (b, d) magnified SEM images of wear debris of Si0.1 (a, b) and Si0.05 (c, d) alloys under 5 N-5 Hz-30 min conditions
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