Third Body Effects on Graphite/XC48 Steel Magnetized Sliding Contact

Abstract

This paper completes previous studies concerning the mechanisms governing friction and wear of a steel/graphite couple under an external applied magnetic field. Friction tests were performed in a controlled chamber with a magnetised steel pin sliding against a graphite disk exposed to oxygen, argon, and vacuum environments. Wear debris and friction tracks generated by reactions with the gases after sliding, with and without magnetic field, were identified ex situ by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. It shows that the magnetic field modifies the third body behavior which depends on the gases surrounding the contact; this governs the friction state, the type of graphite wear (fatigue or abrasive wear), and the surface reactivity.