Tribological behavior of NiTi alloy against 52100 steel and WC at elevated temperatures

The dry tribological behavior of a Ti-50.3 at.% Ni alloy at temperatures of 25 deg. C, 50 deg. C and 200 deg. C was studied. The wear tests were performed on a high temperature pin-on-disk tribometer using 52100 steel and tungsten carbide pins. The worn surfaces of the NiTi alloy were examined by scanning electron microscope. The results showed that in the wear tests involving steel pins, the wear rate of the NiTi decreased as the wear testing temperature was increased. However, for the NiTi/WC contact, a reverse trend was observed. There was also a large decrease in the coefficient of friction for the NiTi/steel contact with increasing wear testing temperature. The formation of compact tribological layers could be the main reason for the reduction of the wear rate and coefficient of friction of the NiTi/steel contact at higher wear testing temperatures.