Friction and wear characteristics of aluminum bronze coatings on steel substrates sprayed by a low pressure plasma technique

In the present research work, the tribological characteristics of low pressure plasma sprayed aluminum bronze coatings against steel ball (SUJ2), have been studied. The effects of different loads, as well as high speed and boundary lubrication conditions, have been examined using the sliding tester. The films were synthesized using a low-pressure plasma spraying technique under different operating conditions. The correlation between the processing variables and the tribological characteristics of the resulting aluminum bronze coatings has been studied. Optical and scanning electron microscopy was employed to evaluate the morphology of the coating’s microstructures. The depths of the wear tracks were evaluated using surface texture instrument. The results indicate that under optimum operating conditions, the test samples exhibit a dense microstructure with a high hardness, low coefficient of friction and high wear resistance. Moreover, the strength of the interface between the film and the substrate was found to be adequate for many industrial applications. The range of optimum operating conditions has also been identified.