Wear behavior of zirconia-based ceramics under high-speed friction

It have been studied the wear behavior of ceramics on the basis of yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (Y-TZP) under high-speed dry sliding on steel. A pin-on-disk technique is used at a sliding speed of up to 47 m/s. It is shown that during wear tests an inter-layer of very complex composition is formed, which governs non-monotonous wear and friction behavior of Y-TZP - steel and Y-TZP-Al2O3 - steel. On the first stage the wear rate is normal and wear increases to catastrophic one. On the second stage the wear rate reduces to its almost initial value (like for low speed 0.1 m/s). In this speed interval the Y-TZP and Y-TZP-Al2O3 materials exhibits wearless behavior.