Friction Wear Behaviors of TiC/316L Composites Prepared by Warm Compaction Forming and Microwave Sintering

To improve the densification and mechanical properties of TiC/316L stainless steel composites, 316L stainless steel composites with 5% TiC particles were prepared by using warm compaction forming and microwave sintering. The friction and wear behaviors of 316L stainless steel composites were evaluated on a MM-200 wear tester with a block-on-ring configuration under dry sliding using composites prepared by conventional powder metallurgy as a baseline. The results showed that the sample prepared by warm compaction forming and microwave sintering was significantly densified and sintered and had better wear resistance than that of sample prepared by conventional powder metallurgy. The wear resistance of the composites can be increased by increasing the compacting pressure during the process of warm compaction forming. However, high compacting pressure can reduce the wear resistance of the composites. The highest wear resistance of the composites was obtained for composite using a compacting pressure of 400 MPa.