Corrosion behavior of silicon carbide in aqueous media lubricated sliding applications

Due to the very high corrosion and wear resistance, the special mechanical properties and also the low friction coefficient in aqueous media lubricated sliding applications identify SiC as an ideal material in face seals applications. Tribochemical reactions dominate the corrosion behaviour of silicon carbide in aqueous environments. The determination of tribochemical and mechanical processes is a major aspect for the improvement of materials used for face seals. Tribological experiments were conducted with several varieties of sintered silicon carbide (solid phase sintered and liquid phase sintered SiC materials). The main focus of this project is to correlate tribochemical mechanisms and wear rates with the hydrothermal corrosion properties. A numerical micro asperity based approach is used to resolve the local temperature and pressure conditions in the sliding contact. Under high tribological loading and poor water lubrication conditions an oxygen and hydrogen increase in the top most regions of the surface. Also an amorphization of the surface layer could be detected via micro raman spectroscopy.