Friction and wear characteristics of carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide ceramic matrix (Cf/SiC) composite and zirconia (ZrO2) ceramic under dry condition

To investigate the tribological properties of Cf/SiC composite with different fiber orientations and ZrO2 with ground and polished surfaces, running-in tests under dry condition were conducted in a pin-to-disc apparatus. The results show that ground surfaces of ZrO2 ceramic sliding against each fiber orientation exhibit more excellent tribological properties than the polished ones. The average coefficient of friction (COF), pin and disc wear rate decrease about 53.7%–63.3%, 59.4%–80.6% and 69.7%–88.5% respectively among all fiber orientations. Specifically, 90deg fiber orientation sliding against ground ZrO2 surface exhibits the best excellent tribological property. Wear mechanism and the reason leading to the results are researched. The work firstly proposes ground surface scratch is a kind of surface texture which hugely affects material's tribological performance.