Dry Sliding Friction and Wear Behaviour of Leaded Tin bronze for Bearing and Bushing Application

Among different bearing materials, copper-based alloys are the most important source for bearing and bushing applications. In this work, the tribological behavior of a leaded tin bronze (Cu-22Pb-4Sn) against an EN31 Steel for various loads (20 N, 70 N, 120 N) and different sliding velocity (1 m/s, 3 m/s, 5 m/s) at 3000 m sliding distance is performed using a pin on disk tribometer. Irrespective of all loads and sliding velocity, a higher specific wear rate is observed at 1 m/s and 120 n that fails to facilitate the formation of lubricating film, whereas a lower specific wear rate is evident when the sliding velocity is increased to 5 m/s. This is attributed to the formation of a stable oxide layer that has been confirmed through the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The coefficient of friction is observed in reducing trend from 0.69 to 0.48 for the increasing load (70 N, 120 N) and sliding velocity (3 m/s and 5 m/s) due to stable thin oxide film formation. Also, the increase in frictional force and loading the interacting surface temperature is increased to a maximum of 102°C. The grey relational analysis indicates that the optimal parameters for the minimum specific wear rate and coefficient of friction is 120 N and 5 m/s that has been confirmed with experimental analysis.

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1. The authors extend the sense of gratitude towards Dr. M. Govindaraju and Dr. R. Vaira Vignesh, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University for providing technical support to utilize Scanning electron Microscopy for analysing this leaded tin bronze wear sample.

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2. Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa Nr 461252 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki i promocja sportu (2021).