Friction and Wear Properties of Copper/Carbon/Rice Bran Ceramics Composite under Water-Lubricated Condition

Abstract

In this paper, friction and wear properties of a copper/carbon/rice bran ceramics (Cu/C/RBC) composite under water-lubricated conditions were investigated experimentally. The mass fractions of copper, carbon and the RB ceramics particulates were 60, 35 and 5 mass%, respectively. The mean diameter of the RB ceramics particulate was 4.9 μm. Friction tests were conducted with a pin-on-disk friction apparatus under water-lubricated conditions. The Cu/C/RBC composite and a copper/carbon (Cu/C) composite were used as disk specimens. The Cu/C composite is a conventional pantograph slider material in Japan. A copper alloy was used as a pin specimen, which was used to simulate a contact wire. The friction coefficients for the Cu/C/RBC composite were lower and more stable than those for the Cu/C composite. The Cu/C/RBC composite showed superior friction and wear properties such as 70.0% reduction in friction coefficient, 86.1% reduction in the specific wear rate of the composite disk and 99.1% reduction in that of the copper-alloy pin compared with the Cu/C composite.