Lubrication behavior of Y-TZP/Al2O3/Mo nanocomposites at high temperature

On the basis of Y-TZP/Al2O3 nanoceramics, the additive of metal molybdenum was developed to generate Y-TZP/Al2O3/Mo nanocomposites, which are compounded by nano-sized ZrO2–Y2O3–Al2O3 and micro-sized molybdenum powder as raw material. The objective of this paper was to understand the friction and wear behavior of Y-TZP/Al2O3/Mo nanocomposites. The obtained friction and wear data were critically analyzed to investigate how the metal molybdenum influences the tribological performance of nanocomposites. Furthermore, morphological investigations of the transfer layers on the worn surfaces were performed and the wear mechanisms were discussed. The results show that the metal molybdenum improves evidently the tribological characteristics of Y-TZP/Al2O3 nanoceramics. The tribo-oxidization at high temperature is the dominating mechanism to self-lubrication. In addition, a high indentation toughness of 17.4 MPa m1/2 was achieved for the Y-TZP/Al2O3/Mo nanocomposites.