Development of Pseudoelastic TiNi Tribo Materials
SourceIt has recently been demonstrated that TiNi shape memory alloy exhibits high resistance to wear and could be a superior tribo material. Excellent wear performance of this alloy benefits by its pseudoelasticity, resulting from a reversible martensitic transformation. Extensive research was conducted to investigate wear behavior of TiNi alloy during various wear processes, including sliding wear, erosion and corrosive wear. Friction of this alloy was also investigated with the emphasis on pseudoelastic effects on friction. The research manifests that this novel wear-resistant alloy is multi-functional and can be an excellent candidate for various tribological applications. Attempts have also been made to develop tribo composites using TiNi alloy as the matrix, reinforced by TiC, TiN and nano-TiN particles, respectively. The TiNi-matrix composites possess considerably improved wear resistance. This paper presents a brief review of our studies on the development of novel TiNi-based tribo materials.