Tribology of Ti2/Cr2 and (TiCr)2AlCx MAX Phase Ceramics

The MAX phase ceramics namely Ti2AlCx, Cr2AlCx, and (TiCr)2AlCx were examined under dry sliding conditions against stainless steel ball at room temperature and 5 N applied normal load using a Ball-on-disk tribometer. At 5 N, 100 m sliding distance and 20 cm/s sliding velocity, Cr2AlCx, and (TiCr)2AlCx ceramic samples exhibited low specific wear rate (3.2 × 10-7 cm3/Nm and 4.2 × 10-7 cm3/Nm), while the coefficients of friction were 0.31 and 0.10, respectively. At 5 N, 100 m and increasing velocity from 5 cm/s to 20 cm/s, Ti2AlCx sample the coefficients of friction decreases from 0.25 to 0.14. The specific wear rate of Ti2AlCx sample was 6.7 × 10-7 cm3/N m at 5 N, 100 m and 5 m/s, and decreases with increasing velocity (3.3 × 10-7 cm3/N m at 20 m/s). The correlations between observed tribological properties and tribo-film characteristics were discussed.