Engineering Science and Materials Commons^™

Experimental Study On The Tribo-Chemical Smoothening Process Between Self-Mated Silicon Carbide In A Water-Lubricated Surface-Contact Reciprocating Test, Le Jin, Herbert Scheerer, Georg Andersohn, Matthias Oechsner, Dieter Hellmann

Friction

Silicon carbide (SiC) can be tribo-chemically smoothened during a self-mated sliding procedure in the aqueous environment. As well reported in the point-contact tests, this smoothening process works well due to the abundant water as oxidant. After this smoothening process, the tribo-surface is well polished, a closely mated tribo-gap naturally forms, and an ultra-low friction state is built. However, water in the tribo-gap could be insufficient in industrial applications, e.g., the seal gap in mechanical seals. In this study, the tribo-chemical smoothening behavior in such environment was researched. A surface-contact reciprocating test was used to simulate the aqueous environment where water …