Experimental and Simulation Study on Wear Behavior of ZK60 Alloy with 3 wt.% Yttrium Addition

In this study, the effect of 3 wt.% of Y addition on the wear behavior of ZK60 extruded alloy was investigated using both experiment and simulation. First, a pin-on-disc tribometer was used to test dry sliding wear against an AISI 52100 steel counterface in a load range of 5-60 N. Microstructural study revealed that adding Y to ZK60 alloy resulted in substantial grain refinement and formation of new precipitates. The wear rate and friction coefficient were reduced with Y addition, attributed to the formation of new precipitates and increased hardness. Increasing the normal load resulted in a transition from mild to severe wear. In the mild wear regime, abrasion was the dominant wear mechanism, while in the severe wear regime, oxidative wear and delamination (a sign of spallation of oxidized patches) coexisted with abrasion were dominant mechanisms. Finally, finite element method was employed to model the wear behavior of studied alloys using ABAQUS software. A 3D model was developed to predict the wear depth evaluated from contact pressure, which was then used as an input into Archard's wear equation. In terms of wear rate, simulation results were in good agreement with experimental values, particularly in the mild wear regime.