SHEN Fanghua, LI Zaijiu, YANG Tianwu, JIN Qinglin*, JIANG Yehua, ZHOU Rong

(Faculty of Material Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China)

Abstract: A new type of self-lubricating material which is characterized by an ordered porous copper as matrix and a pure lead as lubricant phase is fabricated by liquid metal infiltration process. The friction coefficient and wear rate are measured on MMU-5G tribo-meter. The wear mechanism of the self-lubricating material is analyzed by using SEM, EDS and XRD. The results indicate the tribological properties of the self-lubricating material are better than that of the traditional mold cast Cu-Pb alloy with an equal amount of lead. The friction coefficient of the self-lubricating material was lower than 0.08 under load higher than 200 N (1 MPa), and the wear rate is about 1/10~1/5 of wear rate of the traditional mold casting Cu-Pb alloy. The friction coefficient can be reduced by increasing area fraction of Pb. The dominant wear mechanisms vary from abrasive wear to plastic deformation and adhesive wear with the increasing load.

Key words: ordered porous copper; infiltration process; self-lubrication; friction and wear; wear mechanism

E-mail: Jinqinglin@yahoo.com 

Tribology, Vol. 32, Issue 2, 2012, 150~156