Friction and Wear Properties of Rice Husk Ceramics under Dry and Water Lubricated Conditions

Abstract

The authors have developed the new hard porous carbon material “Rice Husk ceramics” (RH ceramics) by carbonizing the mixture of rice husk and phenol resin at 900 °C in inert gas environment. The RH ceramics are composed of amorphous carbon and amorphous silica, about 90 and 10 wt.%, respectively. The friction and wear properties of RH ceramics sliding against austenitic stainless steel (JIS SUS304) were evaluated under dry and water lubricated conditions using a ball-on-disk apparatus. The test results showed that RH ceramics have lower friction coefficients and specific wear rates under dry than under water lubricated condition. The friction coefficient took very low values of 0.06 to 0.11 under dry condition, whereas, it was 0.09 to 0.15 under water lubricated condition. The specific wear rate was less than 10-8 mm2/N under both conditions, though it was much lower under dry than under water lubricated condition. Transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and electron diffraction analyses were employed to characterize the properties of the worn surfaces of SUS304 ball samples. It was found that the tribological behavior of RH ceramics is strongly governed by the characteristics of the transferred film formed on counterpart surfaces.