Tribological behaviors of vacuum hot-pressed ceramic composites with enhanced cyclic oxidation and corrosion resistance

Wear failure is a bottleneck restricting applications and developments of Ti3SiC2 ceramic. Particles reinforced composites provide an effective strategy to resist wear. In this work, Ti(C,N) particles are used as reinforcements, and Ti3SiC2/Ti(C,N) composite is fabricated by vacuum hot-pressing. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and X-ray diffract meter (XRD) are used to investigate composite morphologies, compositions and phases before and after hot-pressing. Meanwhile, high-temperature cyclic oxidations and tribological behaviors of composites under various loads, speeds and Ti(C,N) contents are characterized. Results show that as-prepared composite is relatively dense, and Ti(C,N) addition plays an important role in particle reinforcement of Ti3SiC2. Meanwhile, its hardness, wear resistance, cyclic oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance are significantly improved. In addition, wear characteristics and mechanisms of composites under different loads and speeds are analyzed in details. This work shows great potentials in developing engineering applications of ceramics, especially in high-temperature, oxidizing, frictional and corrosive environments.