Fretting Wear Properties of TiCN-Ni Cermets: Influence of Load and Secondary Carbide Addition

The increasing demand for TiCN-based cermets in tribological applications necessitates a thorough understanding of the influence of experimental as well as material parameters on the friction and wear properties. In optimizing microstructure and properties, secondary carbides are added to baseline TiCN-Ni cermet. The present work aims at evaluating the fretting wear behavior of Ti(CN)-Ni cermets containing various secondary carbides, such as WC, NbC, TaC, and HfC, against steel at different loading (2, 6, and 10 N) conditions. The evolution of tangential frictional force for the investigated cermets was analyzed in terms of fretting logs and fretting loops. The topographical characterization of worn surfaces was performed, using laser surface profilometry and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) capability. The steady-state coefficient of friction (COF) was minimum (0.33) for a TiCN-20Ni cermet/steel tribocouple, while a maximum COF (0.47) was recorded for TiCN-20Ni-10HfC cermet/steel at a 2-N load. The wear rate of the cermets varied in the range of 1.7 × 10⁻⁶ to 3.5 × 10⁻⁶ mm³/Nm. The TiCN-20Ni-10HfC cermet exhibited poor wear resistance among investigated cermets. The dominant wear mechanisms were found as abrasion and tribolayer formation. The dominance of abrasion is explained in terms of cumulative energy dissipation.