Impacts of Lubricant Type on the Densification Behavior and Final Powder Compact Properties of Cu–Fe Alloy under Different Compaction Pressures

Abstract

A Cu–15Fe alloy was fabricated using a powder metallurgy (PM) route, with the addition of different solid lubricants (i.e., paraffin wax (PW) and stearic acid (SA) as well as their composites (PW+SA)). Green compacts were produced via cold compaction at different pressure levels of 50 MPa, 200 MPa, and 350 MPa, then sintered for 60 min under vacuum at 1050 °C. The systematic evolution of the densification, porosity, and pore-size behavior were studied. Vickers Hardness Tests were used to measure hardness. The analysis of the morphological alterations was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Moreover, under dry sliding conditions, pin-on-disk wear tests were conducted in order to determine tribological properties such as the coefficient of friction (µ), specific wear rate (K), and friction temperature gain. Results revealed that the lubrication process and compaction pressure play a crucial role in defining the characteristics of the final compact. Higher sintered densities and hardnesses were achieved at 50 MPa when PW was used as a solid lubricant, and became reduced as the compaction pressure increased. In contrast, in the case of SA, higher sintered densities and hardnesses were obtained at a compaction pressure of 350 MPa, and increased with increasing pressure. Moreover, PW samples exhibited lower coefficients of friction and wear properties. The addition of SA improves the wear loss of friction materials as well as their coefficients of friction. Compared to blank and PW samples, SA samples show a nearly 50% reduction in wear rate.