Friction and wear of TiN-Si3N4 nanocomposites against ShKh15 steel

Spark plasma sintering is used to produce dense silicon nitride nanoceramics with titanium nitride additions and nanofiber-strengthened composites. The sintered nanocomposites demonstrate quite high mechanical properties (HV ≈ 14-16 GPa, KIc≈ 4.8 MPa ∙ m1/2) and low dry friction coefficient (f ≈ 0.65-0.68) and mass wear (~0.2-0.4 mg/km) against ShKh15 steel. The nanocomposite strengthened with 3.8 wt.% silicon nitride nanofibers shows the most balanced mechanical and tribotechnical characteristics.