Study the Effect of Nitrogen Content on the Friction and Wear Properties of Zr-Cu-Ni-Al Bulk Metallic Glasses

Abstract The effects of nitrogen on friction and wear properties of Zr-based bulk metallic glasses were investigated experimentally. Bar like metallic glasses were prepared by copper mold suction casting method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to characterize the structure of samples, which proved their amorphous structure. The surface properties of the samples were studied with a microhardness tester and a friction and wear tester. The wear surfaces of the sample were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The results show that the introduction of nitrogen improves the hardness and wear resistance of Zr-based metallic glass. Compared with the non-N-doped Zr-based metallic glass, the N-doped Zr-based metallic glasses have higher hardness and lower wear-rate. In particular, the sample with 1.5% nitrogen doping has the largest hardness (578.58 hv) and the lowest wear-rate (1.04 × 10−3 mm3/N/m). The wear types of N-doped Zr-based amorphous on GCr15 are mainly abrasive wear and adhesive wear.