Tribological Characteristics of WC-Ni and WC-Co Cemented Carbide in Dry Reciprocating Sliding Contact

Four WC-based cemented carbides produced by liquid phase sintering with different binder composition and similar carbide grain size were tested in order to evaluate their dry reciprocating sliding friction and wear behavior against WC- wt.% Co cemented carbide. The pin-on-flat wear experiments were executed on a Plint TE77 tribometer using normal contact loads of 15 N up to 35 N and a sliding velocity of 0.3 m/s. Analysis of the wear tracks revealed several wear mechanisms; i.e., polishing of WC grains, abrasion, adhesion, formation of wear debris layer, and removal of the surface binder from between the WC grains. Higher contact load increased the wear volume and slightly decreased the friction coefficient. The hardness as well as the type and the amount of binder phase were found to affect the wear resistance significantly. One WC-Ni alloy exhibited superior tribological characteristics compared to the other grades.