Tribological Performance of CuPb Alloy under Seawater Lubrication

In this article, the tribological behaviors of Cu-30wt% Pb (denoted as CuPb) alloy sliding against aluminum bronze ZCuAl9Mn2 lubricated by seawater were investigated. It was found that the friction coefficients decrease with increasing load and sliding speed, and the wear rates increase slightly with applied load but decrease with sliding speed. The low friction coefficient and wear rate can be attributed to the seawater as a lubrication medium, which has lubricating, cooling, and corrosive effects on the sliding couple.