Publications

Abstract : In many aeronautical applications such as in the fan blade / disk dovetail notch, two parts made up of a titanium alloy are in contact and relative motion between them can occur. Titanium alloys like Ti-6Al-4V are promising candidates for tribological application because of their low weight and high specific strength. However, because of the poor tribological behavior of Ti-6Al-4V under self-mating conditions, modification of the surface has become imperative. In this work, we report on the fretting wear of plasma sprayed Cu-Ni- In along with MoS2 solid bonded lubricant and Ti-6Al-4V. Substrate coated pins were tested against a flat plate of Ti- 6Al-4V alloy. The effect of temperature and frequency on fretting wear of Cu-Ni-In, the composite coating and Ti-6Al- 4V was investigated. Wear properties of the coatings and substrate were evaluated. The morphologies of the worn surfaces and surfaces beneath the worn surfaces were characterized with the help of an optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, electron probe micro analyzer and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Results showed that the composite coating exhibited better fretting resistance than the Cu-Ni-In plasma sprayed coating with no additive. It also exhibited lower surface roughness and a lower coefficient of friction than Cu-Ni-In or Ti-6Al-4V under the same testing condition. Therefore, the use of MoS2 solid bonded coating scan be considered as one of the possible simple and cheap approaches for reducing fretting wear.