All-Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composites : Thermal Stability during Tribological Interactions with Superalloys

Sammanfattning: The challenges faced in today’s industry require materials capable of working in chemically aggressive environments at elevated temperature, which has fueled the development of oxidation resistant materials. All-Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composites (OCMC) are a promising material family due to their inherent chemical stability, moderate mechanical properties, and low weight. However, limited information exists regarding their behavior when in contact with other high-temperature materials such as superalloys. In this work three sets of tribological tests were performed: two at room temperature and one at elevated temperature (650 °C). The tests were performed in a pin-on-disk configuration testing Inconel 718 (IN-718) pins against disks made with an aluminosilicate geopolymeric matrix composite reinforced with alumina fibers (N610/GP). Two different loads were tested (85 and 425 kPa) to characterize the damage on both materials. Results showed that the pins experienced ~ 100 % wear increase when high temperature was involved, while their microstructure was not noticeably affected near the contact surface. After high temperature testing the OCMC exhibited mass losses two orders of magnitude higher than the pins and a sintering effect under its wear track, that led to brittle behavior. The debris generated consists of alumina and suggests a possible crystallization of the originally amorphous matrix which may destabilize the system. The data suggests that while the composite’s matrix is stable, wear will not develop uncontrollably. However, as soon as a critical load/temperature combination is attained the matrix is the first component to fail exposing the reinforcement to damage which drastically deteriorates the integrity of the component.