A study of contact temperature and tribological behaviour of magnetized sliding brass-steel couple in different gas environments

The wear tests of the sliding magnetized brass-steel couple are investigated on a pin-disc configuration under three various gas environments: in ambient air, under oxygen at 10(5) Pa, and in vacuum at 1.5 x 10(-6) torr. The tribological behaviour of the couple strongly depends on the environment gas and a little effect of the magnetic field intensity. The results obtained show that the magnetic field decreases the wear rate and the friction coefficient in both air and oxygen atmosphere, respectively. However, in vacuum, the magnetic field has a negligible effect. The wear mode follows a transition from abrasive wear to adhesive wear after some cycles at the beginning of sliding contact. The temperature increment is very large in vacuum and it is almost stationary in both ambient air and oxygen. On the other hand, the application of magnetic field induces a little increase in contact temperature of average value about 5-8 degrees C in each gas environment. The temperature rise is correlated directly to interface properties, namely the hardness, the real contact area, and the roughness of the steel counterface.