Friction and wear behaviour of cemented carbide tool materials sliding against Al2O3 and Si3N4 ceramics under dry condition

To investigate the friction and wear behaviour of YG6 cemented carbide during sliding against Al2O3 and Si3N4 ceramics, the ball-on-disc friction and wear test were carried out under dry condition at different speeds and loads. The friction coefficients were collected by the tribo-tester and the wear rate were calculated based on the wear quality loss. It was shown that friction coefficient was slightly dependent on sliding speeds and loads during sliding against Al2O3 and Si3N4 ceramics. However, the wear rate of cemented carbide was highly dependent on sliding speeds and loads during sliding against Al2O3 ceramics. On the contrast, cemented carbides showed a higher friction coefficient but a lower and constant wear rate during sliding against Si3N4 ceramics. The main wear mechanism of cemented carbide was abrasive wear during against Al2O3 ceramics, but diffusion wear and oxidative wear during against Si3N4 ceramics. The overall understanding of friction and wear behaviour for cemented carbide during sliding against Al2O3 and Si3N4 ceramics under dry condition could widen the application range of cemented carbides and promote the development of high speed dry machining technology.