Ceramics

 Ceramics are special class of materials that include a wide

range of hard refractory inorganic compounds
 Formed by heating the base material in powder form to a high
temperature where sintering or solid state reaction occurs
 Possess excellent mechanical properties (high strength, hardness &
stiffness) up to high temperatures
 Low density

 Examples:
 Silicon Nitride (Si3N4)
 Silicon Carbide (SiC)
 Alumina (Al2O3)
 Zirconia (Cubic and/or tetragonal ZrO2)
 Ceramic Materials – Engineering Ceramics

 Ceramic materials are nominally pure

 Contain small amounts of additives to assist fabrication process
(e.g. as sintering aids)
 Contain more substantial amounts of additives as alloying additions
 Ceramics are often classified as ‘oxides’, ‘carbides’ or ‘nitrides’
 This classification is reflected by significant differences in friction and
wear mechanisms
 Widely used as thin coatings on substrates of other materials
 Impart excellent tribological properties
 Other applications include precision instrument bearings,
cutting tool inserts, prosthetic articulating joints and engine
components
Structural Difference of Ceramics from Metals
 Ceramic materials have mostly ionic or covalent bonding
 Ionic bonding, in ceramics such as MgO or Al2O3, leads to crystal
structures with only a small number of independent slip systems for
dislocations
 Covalent bonding, as in SiC, TiC or diamond, leads to very narrow
dislocations which move only under high stress, even though all five
independent slip systems may exist
 Hence ceramic materials show only limited plastic flow and the grains are
more brittle than in metals
 Grain boundaries range in properties from very ductile to very
brittle
 The ductile, sintering aids become thin second phases or intergranular
(grain boundary) materials
 Eg: Si3N4 often has MgO or Y2O3 grain boundaries
Physical Properties of typical Engineering Ceramics
 Relative merits and disadvantages
 Silicon carbide and silicon nitride have good mechanical
properties
 However, they require very high temperatures for processing
 Aluminium oxide is hard, but very brittle
 Zirconia has good toughness
 Loses its toughness at relatively low temperatures (around 500°C)
 Oxide ceramics are more chemically stable than nitride or
carbide ceramics which can be oxidized
 But some of the oxides, in particular zirconia ceramics, are
susceptible to stress cracking in the presence of moisture
 Despite the high hardness, ceramics often suffer severe wear,
especially in dry conditions
 Hence, very careful selection of these materials for a particular
application is necessary
 Unlubricated friction and wear
 Unlubricated wear and friction of ceramics is strongly influenced
by sliding conditions, temperature and the presence of moisture
 Deformation processes can be either ductile or brittle and
depend mainly on the speed/load conditions
 Ductile deformation is observed usually under moderate sliding
conditions
 an asperity contact causes plastic flow and displacement of material
rather than its removal
 Hence, sliding results in low friction and little wear
 Brittle deformation is characterized by extensive fracture along
the grain boundaries during an asperity contact
 This type of deformation dominates at high contact stresses and/or in
systems where one counter-face is much harder than the other.
 Entire grains of a ceramic can be detached by brittle fracture and debris
is formed by the subsequent fragmentation of these grains.
 Severe wear usually accompanied by high friction is observed
Mechanisms of ductile and brittle deformations
of ceramics
 Sliding Wear Mechanisms (Contd…)

 Several wear mechanisms, separate or combined, contribute to

the wear damage in ceramic-ceramic sliding
 Abrasion, adhesion, micro-fracture, delamination, etc. can occur
 A fine powdery debris released during the asperity contact often
accumulates to form debris layers on the worn surface
 The formation of top layers, observed on both polished and
ground surfaces, modifies surface topography
 In some cases, it may be responsible for lowering of friction too
 Debris layers are further subjected to smearing and, at
sufficient stresses, are gradually worn by micro-fracture and/or
delamination
 Dry Friction and Wear of Ceramics
at Room Temperature
 In vacuum and in dry gases, friction coefficients between self
mated poly-crystalline ceramics are usually high, in the range of
0.5 to 0.9
 However, these coefficients are much lower than those of metals
in a vacuum, indicating lower susceptibility of ceramics to seizure
 In air at low velocities and low contact pressures, ceramics
show moderate friction and wear
 A transition to severe wear occurs when speed and/or load are
significantly increased
 High transient temperatures, particularly when caused by high
sliding speed, can also result in a severe increase in the wear
of ceramics
 Friction and Wear of Ceramics in the
Presence of Water or Humid Air
 Moisture forms a thin soft hydrated layer on the ceramic surface which acts
as a lubricant
 Lubricating layer can be formed on both alumina and silicon-based ceramics
 However, if the depth of the hydrated layer becomes excessively large then a
form of corrosive wear occurs in the presence of water
 Shows a contrast between the beneficial lubricating effect of a thin hydrated layer
and the effect of accelerated wear by a thick hydrated layer
 Lubricated Wear and Friction of
Ceramic-Ceramic Contacts
 Significant reductions in the friction and wear of ceramics by the
application of oil lubricants which were originally formulated for
metallic sliding surfaces.
 However, liquid lubrication of ceramics has two major drawbacks:
 Limited reactivity of lubricant additives with ceramic surfaces, and
 A temperature barrier at which liquid lubricants start to decompose