Tribological Properties of Micro-Textured Si₃N₄ Ceramics under Fe₃O₄ Nanofluid Lubrication

The combination of nanofluid and micro-texture was an effective method to improve the tribological properties of Si₃N₄ ceramics. The effect of different parameters of nanofluids on the friction and wear properties of micro-textured Si₃N₄ ceramic specimens under the action of self-excited electric field was investigated with MMW-1D frictional wear test machine. The average friction coefficient, the wear of the grinding balls, the wear morphology of the specimens and the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of the lower specimens were analyzed. The micro-textured specimens were found to have the lowest average coefficient of friction and wear of the grinding balls when combined with sodium lauriminodipropionate, a surfactant with a volume fraction of 0.5%, and the wear of the Si₃N₄ ceramic specimens was significantly improved. Combined with the relevant results of tribological tests, the antifriction and lubrication mechanism of nanofluid on micro-textured specimens was revealed.