Study on friction and wear behavior of Cu-15Ni-8Sn-0.3Fe-0.3Er alloy under different deformation and environmental conditions

Due to its excellent wear resistance, Cu-15Ni-8Sn alloy has been widely used in many fields, such as bearing manufacturing, aerospace, automotive manufacturing, marine engineering and heavy machinery. This paper studied the friction and wear behavior of Cu-15Ni-8Sn-0.3Fe-0.3Er alloy with different cold deformation under different working media was studied. The wear scar morphology was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the element distribution of the wear scar was analyzed using an energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The results show that the 90% cold-deformed Cu-15Ni-8Sn-0.3Fe-0.3Er alloy has the minimum friction coefficient and exhibits the best anti-friction and wear resistance performance. Its main wear mechanisms include abrasive wear, oxidative wear, and adhesive wear. Under oil friction, hydraulic oil can effectively reduce the contact area between the two friction pairs, thereby reducing the wear degree of the alloy surface. The friction and wear performance are relatively good, and only abrasive wear exists. However, in NaCl solution, the performance is relatively poor, and the wear mechanism mainly includes abrasive wear, adhesive wear, and oxidative wear. The main reason is that chloride ions (Cl^-) easily lead to pitting corrosion of the alloy, which exacerbates the degree of friction and wear.