Dry reciprocating sliding wear behaviour of alumina–silicon carbide nanocomposite fabricated by ceramic injection molding

The wear resistance of Al2O3 composite with 6 vol.% of SiC nanoparticles fabricated by thermoplastic forming technology and natural sintering was studied under reciprocating dry sliding conditions and compared with the results obtained in unreinforced alumina with similar grain size obtained by hot pressing. The nanocomposite wear resistance at contact loads of 20 N corresponding to initial Hertzian contact pressures of 1.8 GPa, was found to be superior to that of the alumina by a factor of 6.