The surface magnetization approach on assessing the tribological properties of iron sliding against iron coated with pure tin and with a tin composite

Abstract

The traditional method of monitoring the tribological properties between contacting surfaces of the metal pairs is by the variations of the friction coefficient. However, the variations of the friction coefficient may be difficult to be measured directly through industrial apparatus. It is necessary to develop other parameters to dynamically monitor the tribological properties of iron or steel materials for the industrial usage. This article proposed a method of using instead the voltage derived from the continuous variation of surface magnetization. This method was investigated experimentally for iron sliding against iron coated with a pure tin film and a thin tin composite under dry friction condition. The effects of normal loads on friction and wear were also investigated. The experiments demonstrated that the dynamic variations of surface magnetization showed great potential for determining the onset of film fracture and endurance life of the film. It was also shown that the presence of a pure tin film resulted in lower friction and surface magnetization at the interface and was wear resistant. These conditions were substantially improved with the tin composite coatings.