Understanding Friction and Wear Mechanisms of High-Purity Titanium against Steel in Liquid Nitrogen Temperature

Although the friction and wear properties of several metallic alloys in unlubricated conditions are widely investigated, such understanding for high-purity metals in cryogenic environment is rather limited. This article reports the tribological properties of high-purity alpha-titanium (alpha-Ti), prepared by cold rolling and recrystallization annealing, under liquid nitrogen (LN2) and room temperature (RT) environments against steel (bearing grade: SAE 52100) at varying loads (up to 15 N) and sliding speeds (0.6 to 4.19 m/s). It has been found that the steady-state coefficient of friction (COF) of titanium under LN2 environment (similar to 0.27 to 0.33) is lower than that at RT COF (similar to 0.33 to 0.58) irrespective of sliding speed. For cryogenic sliding conditions, the COF decreased steadily with sliding speed to a mean value of about 0.28 and no appreciable variation in COF is noticed for sliding speed of more than 1.5 m/s. The wear rate under both environment conditions was of the order of 10(-3) mm(3) N-1 m(-1) irrespective of variation in operating parameters, but the RT wear rate was found to be higher compared to the LN2 case. Overall, the experimental results demonstrate improved tribological properties of high-purity titanium at LN2 temperature compared to the RT. Flow localization at tribological interfaces because of the large strain rate and subsequent damage accumulation at the titanium test piece are some of the attributes of the wear of Ti at LN2 temperature. In addition, the galling of titanium was also observed to occur under large contact stress and sliding speed conditions.