Wear Mechanism of Ceramic Microbeads as Grinding Media

Ceramic microbeads are increasingly being used for wear applications, especially for milling ultrafine powder. Research on friction and wear behavior of ceramics has become a more and more important subject in the area. In this paper, three kinds of ceramic microbeads ––mullite-zirconia, zirconium silicate and 95 alumina microbeads which were produced by Colloidal injection moulding technique were tested by SRV high temperature friction and wear test system, which the working condition of the ceramic microbeads as grinding media can be simulated to a certainty. The tests were done under dry friction and water lubrication respectively. Then their worn surfaces were observed using scanning electron microscopy. Through these experiments, the tribological properties and wear mechanisms of the self-wearing ceramic microbeads were investigated.