Wear 255 (2003) 365375

Transition from static to kinetic friction of unlubricated or

oil lubricated steel/steel, steel/ceramic and ceramic/ceramic pairs
D.-H. Hwang
a,b
, K.-H. Zum Gahr
a,b,
a
Universitt Karlsruhe, Institute of Materials Science and Engineering II, P.O. Box 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
b
Institute for Materials Research I, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, P.O. Box 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
Abstract
Tribological tests were conducted on different pairs of the bearing steel 100Cr6 and a commercial alumina under unlubricated and oil
lubricated conditions where the transition behaviour from static to kinetic friction as a function of surface nish and contact pressure was
of particular interest. Static and kinetic friction were measured using a laboratory tribometer with ball-on-plate geometry at an extremely
low tangential speed of 8.3 m/s applied to the plate specimen. Results showed a signicant effect of surface nish on both the static
and kinetic coefcients of friction as well as on the transition behaviour. Transition behaviour was strongly dependent on the materials
mated. The self-mated steel pairs showed greater values of kinetic than static coefcient of friction while no signicant difference of
both friction values was measured on self-mated alumina pairs with ground plate specimens. Inuence of oil lubrication on static friction
was small compared with that on kinetic friction where the last one was substantially reduced by oil lubrication with 100Cr6/100Cr6
and 100Cr6/Al
2
O
3
pairs, particularly. Stick-slip effects occurred with both unlubricated and lubricated pairs under high normal loads and
depending on surface nish.
2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Static friction; Kinetic friction; Coefcient of friction; Transition behaviour; Steel; Alumina; Stick-slip; Normal load; Surface roughness
1. Introduction
Continuously variable transmissions received increasing
interest in automotive applications in the past few years.
They allow the vehicle to operate at the most fuel efcient
engine speed and hence offer a high potential for reducing
fuel consumption and in addition improved driving comfort.
The engine torque is transmitted by the friction between the
steel-belt and the two pulleys in which it runs [1]. This de-
vice and also traction drives in general, drum and disk brakes
or clutches are examples where static and kinetic friction
but also the transition from static to kinetic friction are very
important for the performance [2]. High-torque transmission
devices require special design, fabrication and material prop-
erties of the mated parts for resulting in high coefcient of
friction as well as both tribological and mechanical stability
at the high amount of energy dissipation in the contact area
of the friction elements. The static coefcient of friction is
generally calculated from maximum friction force that must
be overcome to initiate relative motion between the mated
surfaces of two bodies. It depends on the area of contact,

Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-7247-823896;

fax: +49-7247-824567.
E-mail address: zumgahr@imf.fzk.de (K.-H. Zum Gahr).
normal load, surrounding atmosphere and temperature, sur-
face adsorbates or interfacial media, surface nishing and
last but not least on the pair of materials in contact [3,4].
Theoretical and experimental works had been conducted
on the subject of static friction and useful models were pro-
posed considering the effect of random distributed asperities
on the surfaces of elastic solids [5], adsorbed lubricant lms
[6] or the conditions for the onset of relative sliding [79].
They depicted the mechanisms of static friction from the
fundamental aspects and stressed the role of surface lms.
Experimental studies on static friction had mostly been fo-
cused on the transition behaviour from the static to kinetic
friction, which can be accompanied by undesirable effects
like stick-slip in practical applications. Stick-slip effects led
to severe wear on self-mated steel pairs and showed a strong
dependence on normal load [10]. Studies on the origin of
stick-slip showed that it can originate from a situation of
pure sliding, if the slope of the friction force versus relative
sliding velocity is negative [11]. Numerous theoretical mod-
els have been derived to describe the stick-slip phenomenon
[1214].
It was observed that both the static coefcient of friction
and the coefcient of the steady state friction of self-mated
alumina pairs were very sensitive to changes of environ-
mental conditions, e.g. running tests in distilled water or
0043-1648/03/$ see front matter 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0043-1648(03)00063-2
366 D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr / Wear 255 (2003) 365375
water containing 1 wt.% carboxymethyl cellulose sodium
salt [15]. Many factors, such as lubricant, load, sliding ve-
locity, resting time and start-up acceleration, etc. inuence
friction behaviour of self-mated alumina. Signicant effects
on static friction have also to be expected from dynamic
loads including normal load, normal and tangential vibra-
tion amplitudes, and frequency of externally applied forces
[16].
Experimental and theoretical studies on polymerpolymer
microbearings pointed on the effect of formation of the real
area of contact in transition from the static friction to sliding
[17]. Important factors involved are the topography of the
rubbing surfaces, mechanical properties of the mated mate-
rials and the amount of load or the loadtime characteristic,
respectively. Static friction of lubricated systems varies con-
siderably according to resting time which is explained as
resulting from squeezing out of lubricant during the resting
so that surface asperities come into contact over the start-up
time [18].
The aim of the present paper was to study the frictional
behaviour both static and sliding friction of steel/steel,
steel/alumina and alumina/alumina pairs under unlubricated
or oil lubricated conditions. Of particular interest was the
transition behaviour from static to kinetic friction as a func-
tion of surface nish and contact pressure. The detailed
study of this transition behaviour was practicably by using
the very low sliding speed of 8.3 m/s. This basic research
is oriented at the specications of traction drives which re-
Fig. 1. Properties of the materials, experimental set-up and test parameters used for measuring friction as well as a hypothetical static to kinetic friction
transition diagram.
quire a high traction coefcient and a long service life even
at low oil viscosity owing to higher temperature.
2. Materials and experimental methods
Commercially available, 10 mm diameter balls of 100Cr6
steel (AISI 52100, SKF, Germany) and F99.7 alumina
(Friatec, Germany) were used as sliders in the tribological
tests. The balls were mated to plate specimens made from
heat-treated 100Cr6 steel and F99.7 alumina, respectively.
The steel plates were through hardened (20 min at 860

C
oil quenched) and tempered (2 h at 190

C) to the hardness
of 790 HV
500
. Microstructure of the through hardened steel
plate was characterized as a martensitic matrix with about
8 vol.% of embedded spherical carbides of an average size of
about 1 m. The alumina ceramic showed an average grain
size of 7.5 m with maximum values of single grains up to
30 m in length and a closed porosity less than 2.5 vol.%.
Some properties of the steel and the alumina ceramic used
as well as experimental details are given in Fig. 1.
The initial surface roughness of the specimens was char-
acterized using stylus prolometry with the stylus tip radius
of 5 m. Steel and alumina balls were polished to the
arithmetic average surface roughness value R
a
of 0.02 m.
The as-delivered (AsD) alumina plates were coarse ground
to R
a
= 0.82 m, ne ground to R
a
= 0.49 m (dia-
mond wheel of grit size of 25 m, D25) and polished to
D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr / Wear 255 (2003) 365375 367
Table 1
Values of the surface roughness parameters of ball and plate specimens depending on surface nish
a
Roughness parameter (m) Ball (polished) Al
2
O
3
plate 100Cr6 plate
100Cr6 Al
2
O
3
Polished Ground Polished Ground
Fine Coarse
R
a
0.02 0.02 0.22 0.49 0.82 0.02 0.57
R
q
0.03 0.03 0.38 0.71 1.02 0.03 0.74
R
k
0.03 0.03 0.13 0.56 1.63 0.08 1.59
R
pk
0.04 0.02 0.04 0.12 0.17 0.03 0.79
R
vk
0.04 0.04 0.97 1.63 2.12 0.04 1.14
a
R
a
: arithmetic surface roughness value, R
q
: root-mean-square roughness, R
k
: core roughness depth, R
pk
: reduced peak height, and R
vk
: reduced
valley depth.
R
a
= 0.22 m. The steel plates were also polished and
ground to achieve different surface roughness values
(Table 1). In addition to the arithmetic surface roughness
value R
a
and the RMS roughness value R
q
, roughness pa-
rameters of the bearing ratio curve (AbbottFirestone curve)
were also measured, namely the core roughness depth R
k
,
the reduced peak height R
pk
and the reduced valley depth
R
vk
because these parameters give more evidence of the
surface quality of ceramics.
Coefcient of static friction and transition from static to
kinetic friction was determined by using a specially de-
signed ball-on-plate tribometer (Fig. 1). The ball specimen
was attached to a rigid column of the constant elasticity of
140 N/mm (in the friction direction) and pressed by dead
weights of 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100 N, respectively, against the
plate specimen. After applying the normal load, the mated
ball and plate specimens rested 60 s on the starting position
before the test started and the plate specimen was pulled in
tangential direction with the loading rate of 1.16 N/s. The
normal load (F
N
) and the tangential force (F
T
) were mea-
sured using a bi-axial force sensor. With the help of the high
resolution gap sensors built in the column and the plate ta-
ble, the relative sliding (S
R
in Fig. 1) between ball and plate
specimen was measured and continuously recorded. From
the resulting F
T
versus time or S
R
curve, respectively, the
static coefcient of friction
s
was determined as the ra-
tio of tangential force at the onset of relative sliding be-
tween the mated surfaces divided by the applied normal
load (Fig. 1). After the transition from static to kinetic fric-
tion, relative sliding occurred generally with the velocity of
8.3 m/s.
In exceptional cases stick-slip occurred at the transition
for example with the pair 100Cr6 balls mated to ground
(AsD) Al
2
O
3
plates under the normal load of 50 N either
lubricated or unlubricated. Then, immediately after breaking
off the relative sliding occurred for a time of 0.02 s with
an acceleration of 0.6 m/s
2
up to the speed of 1.5 mm/s and
after that further sliding continued at the normal speed of
8.3 m/s.
Before each test, the specimens were cleaned in an ultra-
sonic bath with isopropanol. Unlubricated tests were run in
laboratory air at room temperature of 23

C and the relative

humidity of 50%. In the lubricated tests, an additive-free
mineral oil (standard oil FVA no. 3 or ISO-VG100, respec-
tively) was fed into the contact area before the ball and the
plate were mated. The environmental conditions and the dy-
namic viscosity of the mineral oil were given in Fig. 1.
3. Results
3.1. Surface quality
It is well known that the evidence of the R
a
value (arith-
metic average roughness) is very limited for describing sur-
face quality of ceramic materials because of existing cavities
like pores and pull-out of grains which affect the R
a
value
signicantly. Surface quality of the machined ceramics can
be more precisely characterized using values derived from
the bearing ratio curve (AbbottFirestone curve). The R
pk
value represents the height and the portion of asperity peaks
which can substantially affect the static friction as well as
the transition from static to kinetic friction. R
k
and R
vk
val-
ues are measures of the bearing capacity and the depth as
well as the portion of cavities on the machined surface, re-
spectively. Surface roughness values of the steel and the alu-
mina are presented in Table 1 as a function of the method
of surface nishing. All roughness values increased in the
order of the polished to the ground surfaces.
Fig. 2 shows scanning electron micrographs of steel and
alumina surfaces after grinding and polishing. Grinding of
the steel plates resulted in the typical grooves and high val-
ues of roughness (Fig. 2a). The relative sliding direction was
parallel to grinding marks on the ground steel surface. Pol-
ished surfaces of alumina plates (Fig. 2b) exhibited larger
area parts of cavities and between them relative smooth sur-
face parts. Cavities due to pores and spalled grains led to
high roughness values, specially R
vk
values. The ne ground
(Fig. 2c) and the AsD coarse ground surface (Fig. 2d) of
alumina were covered with numerous angular grains pro-
truding the surface and also relatively deep cavities owing
to pull-out of grains.
368 D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr / Wear 255 (2003) 365375
Fig. 2. SEM micrographs of surfaces of (a) steel 100Cr6 and (b)(d) Al
2
O
3
plate specimens after surface nish by (a) grinding, (b) polishing, (c) grinding
using D25 diamond wheel and (d) coarse grinding (AsD).
3.2. Tribological behaviour
3.2.1. Effect of surface roughness
The effect of surface nish of the plate specimens on
transition between static and kinetic friction was investigated
under unlubricated or oil lubricated conditions. Fig. 3 shows
the tangential force measured on steel/steel, steel/Al
2
O
3
and
Al
2
O
3
/Al
2
O
3
pairs under the normal load of F
N
= 10 N
as a function of time of testing. After start of the test, the
tangential force increased almost linearly up to the onset of
slip between the mated ball and plate specimen. Onset of
rst slip was accompanied by a discontinuity in the course
of F
T
versus time. The corresponding F
T
value was used to
calculate the static coefcient of friction.
The self-mated steel pairs were studied with polished and
ground plate surfaces (Table 1). While in the unlubricated
condition (Fig. 3a) the static coefcient of friction was nearly
independent of surface nish, the polished plate surface re-
sulted in higher friction during the transition from static to
kinetic friction. Oil lubrication showed only a small effect
on the static coefcient of friction but reduced the kinetic
coefcient of friction efciently down to about 60% of the
unlubricated value (Fig. 3b). Under the lubricated condition,
the maximum kinetic friction reduced remarkably down to
60%for the polished plate compared to the unlubricated con-
dition. Inuence of lubrication was more pronounced on the
transition behaviour of the polished than of the ground sur-
face. Adhesion and plastic deformation of asperities in the
contact area seemed to be the dominant mechanisms which
determined transition behaviour of the self-mated steel pairs.
Increase of contact area contributed to substantial increase
of the coefcient of friction after onset of rst sliding. The
real area of contact between the ball and the polished sur-
face was greater than that with the ground surface, hence in
the absence of the lubricant the kinetic friction was higher
on the polished than on the ground surface.
In the case of both unlubricated and lubricated steel/
alumina pairs, the effect of surface nish was very pro-
nounced both on the static friction coefcient and the tran-
sition behaviour (Fig. 3c and d). Contrary to the self-mated
steel pairs, the increase in friction was only moderate after
the onset of rst slip. Static as well as kinetic coefcient of
friction increased in the order of the polished to the coarse
ground (AsD) plate surface and values of both coefcients
of friction were slightly lower under lubricated than unlu-
bricated condition. High values of the static coefcient of
friction with the steel/alumina pairs was attributed to pene-
trating of hard asperities on the surface of the alumina plate
into the softer plastically deformed contact surface of the
steel ball and the resulting interlocking. Hence, the height
of the asperity peaks (related to R
pk
value, Table 1) on the
alumina plates seemed to be the dominant factor inuenc-
ing static friction. After the onset of the rst sliding, kinetic
friction can mainly be attributed to the grooving effect by
the hard Al
2
O
3
asperities on the steel surface.
Ground (ne D25 and coarse AsD) plates of the
self-mated alumina pairs resulted in higher static coefcient
of friction than polished plates (Fig. 3e and f). Transition be-
haviour of the pairs with ground plates was independent of
lubrication. Static friction of pairs with ground plates seemed
to be determined by interlocking between elastically de-
formed asperities and also between asperities and cavities on
D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr / Wear 255 (2003) 365375 369
Fig. 3. Effect of surface nish of the plate specimens on the transition from static to kinetic friction with (a), (c) and (e) unlubricated and (b), (d) and
(f) lubricated pairs. (a) and (b) 100Cr6/100Cr6, (c) and (d) 100Cr6/Al
2
O
3
and (e) and (f) Al
2
O
3
/Al
2
O
3
under normal load of 10 N.
both surfaces of the mated alumina specimens. After onset of
the rst sliding, micro-grooving and micro-fracture occurred
to some extent in the contact area which caused kinetic fric-
tion. Like self-mated steel pairs, lubrication affected mostly
the kinetic friction of the Al
2
O
3
pairs with polished plates
and reduced the kinetic coefcient of friction compared with
the unlubricated case (Fig. 3e and f). Transition behaviour
of the unlubricated polished Al
2
O
3
surfaces seemed to be
inuenced by adhesive and mechanical interaction pro-
cesses promoted by the relatively large real area of contact
owing to low surface roughness. Great uctuations in the
course of the tangential force (F
T
0.3 N) were observed
which were similar to stick-slip effects (Fig. 3e). During
these tests in air of 50% relative humidity, a very thin water
lm adsorbed to the surface can form menisci at the scale of
asperities and may cause sticking effects which contribute
to the instabilities in kinetic friction. A similar effect has
been reported for self-mated SiC pairs at greater values of
humidity [19].
Fig. 4 shows the values of the static coefcient of friction
of the different pairs with polished or ground plate specimens
under unlubricated or oil lubricated conditions at a normal
load of 10 N. All experiments were repeated three times
under the same conditions and the average values as well
as the standard deviations were derived from the resulting
Fig. 4. Static coefcient of friction of different unlubricated and oil
lubricated pairs with polished and ground plate specimens at a normal
load of 10 N.
370 D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr / Wear 255 (2003) 365375
curves. Friction values up to 0.24 were measured on the
unlubricated 100Cr6/Al
2
O
3
pair with ne ground plate. This
pair revealed also the strongest effect of surface nish. The
polished plate resulted in only a half of the static coefcient
of friction compared with the value of the ne ground plate.
Lowest values of friction coefcient were measured with the
self-mated steel pairs.
3.2.2. Effect of normal load
The effect of normal load or contact pressure, respec-
tively, was studied on unlubricated (Fig. 5) and lubricated
(Fig. 6) pairs with polished and ground surfaces of the steel
and alumina plates. Fig. 5 shows the course of the tan-
gential force measured on the unlubricated pairs as a func-
tion of time of testing under normal loads of 10, 25 and
50 N.
Independent of the materials mated, values of the static
and kinetic coefcient of friction increased with increasing
normal load. At a given normal load, values of the static
Fig. 5. Effect of normal load on the transition from static to kinetic friction with unlubricated pairs containing (a), (c) and (e) polished or (b), (d) and
(f) ground plate specimens. (a) and (b) 100Cr6/100Cr6, (c) and (d) 100Cr6/Al
2
O
3
and (e) and (f) Al
2
O
3
/Al
2
O
3
.
coefcient of friction increased in the order of the pairs
steel/steel, alumina/alumina and steel/alumina. Contrary to
this, values of the kinetic coefcient of friction after the on-
set of rst sliding increased in the order of the pairs alu-
mina/alumina, steel/alumina and steel/steel.
Values of the kinetic coefcient of friction increased con-
tinuously on the self-mated steel pairs after the onset of slid-
ing where the polished plates resulted in greater values than
the ground plates (Fig. 5a and b). The transition behaviour
from static to kinetic friction of the steel/alumina pairs was
strongly dependent on the normal load (Fig. 5c and d) and
the surface nish. Values of the static coefcient of friction
increased with increasing normal load on the steel/alumina
pairs with ground plates. It seemed that the increase of nor-
mal load or contact pressure, respectively, led to an increase
of the real contact area and hence of the number of asper-
ity contacts. Self-mated alumina pairs with polished plates
showed above normal loads of 10 N stick-slip behaviour
(Fig. 5e and f).
D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr / Wear 255 (2003) 365375 371
Fig. 6. Effect of normal load on the transition from static to kinetic friction with oil lubricated pairs containing (a), (c) and (e) polished or (b), (d) and
(f) ground plate specimens. (a) and (b) 100Cr6/100Cr6, (c) and (d) 100Cr6/Al
2
O
3
and (e) and (f) Al
2
O
3
/Al
2
O
3
.
Fig. 6 shows the transition behaviour of the different pairs
under oil lubrication. Compared with the unlubricated con-
tact (Fig. 5), the presence of additive-free mineral oil had
only small effect on the static coefcient of friction of a given
pair of mated materials. However, values of the kinetic coef-
cient of friction decreased dominantly with polished plates
and especially on the steel/steel pairs with ground plates
(Fig. 6b). Stick-slip behaviour was observed on the polished
steel/steel pairs (Fig. 6a) when the normal load was raised
from 10 to 25, 50 or 100 N, respectively. It seemed that the
high load led to squeezing out the oil from the contact zone
after the onset of sliding on the relative smooth surfaces fol-
lowed by formation of adhesive junctions between the mated
steel surfaces. The kinetic coefcient of friction of the pairs
with ground alumina plates mated to steel or Al
2
O
3
balls
showed little inuence of the lubrication (Fig. 6d and f).
Stick-slip behaviour was also observed in the case of lubri-
cated steel/alumina pairs with ground Al
2
O
3
plates at high
loads (Fig. 6d). However, a smooth course of the tangential
force was measured on the self-mated Al
2
O
3
pairs even at
high loads (Fig. 6e and f).
Values of the static coefcient of friction measured on un-
lubricated or oil lubricated 100Cr6/Al
2
O
3
pairs with plates
of different surface nish are presented in Fig. 7 as a function
of normal load ranging from5 (contact pressure of 0.94 GPa)
to 100 N (2.56 GPa). In the unlubricated condition (Fig. 7a),
static coefcient of friction increased with normal load F
N
and at a given value of F
N
with increasing surface rough-
ness. However, no effect of normal load was observed on
pairs with polished plates. This relation was also measured
on pairs with ground plates under oil lubrication (Fig. 7b),
but static coefcient of friction decreased slightly with in-
creasing normal load on pairs with polished plates.
Fig. 8 shows contact areas of the polished steel ball and
the ground (AsD) alumina plate of unlubricated or lubri-
cated tests, respectively, after 50 s of testing time under the
high normal load of F
N
= 100 N. This time of testing cor-
responded to about 160 m of relative sliding between the
372 D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr / Wear 255 (2003) 365375
Fig. 7. Static coefcient of friction of (a) unlubricated and (b) oil lubricated
pairs of 100Cr6/Al
2
O
3
with plates of different surface nish versus normal
load, F
N
.
Fig. 8. SEM micrographs of contact areas of the pair 100Cr6/Al
2
O
3
worn for 50 s of testing time under the normal load of 100 N: (a) and (c) unlubricated
and (b) and (d) oil lubricated surfaces of (a) and (b) 100Cr6 balls and (c) and (d) rough (AsD) ground Al
2
O
3
plates (arrows show direction of relative
sliding).
mated surfaces. The contact area of the steel ball (Fig. 8a and
b) was characterized by wear grooves (Fig. 8a) and result-
ing metallic or ceramic wear particles as well as pull-out of
carbides of the steel surface and indentation marks of rough-
ness peaks of the mated harder ceramic surface (Fig. 8b).
Material transfer from the steel ball was detected on the
contact surface of the alumina plate (Fig. 8c and d). It was
concluded that the transition behaviour of the steel/alumina
pair was determined by abrasion due to hard Al
2
O
3
asper-
ities grooving the softer steel surface, either lubricated or
unlubricated. Stick-slip effects occurred under oil lubrica-
tion at high loads (at and above 50 N, Fig. 6d) which may
be caused by squeezing the oil lm out of the contact area
followed by increasing friction accompanied by stick-slip
owing to repeated formation and breaking of adhesive junc-
tions as well as material transfer and abrasive grooving.
4. Discussion
Materials mated, surface roughness, normal load and oil
lubrication inuenced static friction and transition from
static to kinetic friction at the operating conditions used in
this study. At comparable surface roughness values such as
R
a
and R
q
(Table 1) of the ground steel and ne ground
(D25) alumina as well as the polished steel and alumina
balls, the value of the static coefcient of friction both
of the unlubricated and lubricated pairs increased in the
D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr / Wear 255 (2003) 365375 373
Fig. 9. (a) Tangential (friction) force measured on unlubricated 100Cr6/100Cr6 pair with polished plate specimen at the normal load of 100 N as a
function of testing time and SEM micrographs of the plate surface (b) the area of rst sliding, (c) the total friction track and (d) area after testing for
about 100 s (arrows show direction of relative sliding).
order of steel/steel to Al
2
O
3
/Al
2
O
3
to steel/Al
2
O
3
(Figs. 3
and 4). The tangential force or friction force, respectively,
increased with the self-mated steel pairs after the onset of
rst slip and resulted in substantially higher values of ki-
netic than static coefcient of friction. In contrast, kinetic
friction was only moderately higher than static friction with
the steel/Al
2
O
3
pairs (Fig. 3c and d) or no difference was
measured on the self-mated alumina with ne ground plates
(D25), respectively.
Fig. 9 shows the tangential force measured with the un-
lubricated self-mated steel pairs under the high normal load
of 100 N versus time of testing and SEM micrographs of the
friction track on the plate specimen. At the place of onset of
rst sliding, the surface showed small dark areas (Fig. 9b)
which revealed iron oxides. The steel surface was covered
with a natural oxide lm which was destroyed by the high
applied normal load or contact pressure, respectively. Fine
grooves were also observed inside the friction track after
beginning of sliding owing to the abrasive action of small
iron oxide particles or carbides embedded in the martensitic
microstructure of the steel. Adhesive junctions were formed
in the unlubricated contact area between ball and plate after
breakthrough of the natural oxide lm. Abrasive grooving
and forming of adhesive junctions increased with sliding
and led to a steep increase in friction force up to the kinetic
coefcient of friction of about 0.7 after the testing time of
about 75 s (Fig. 9a). Hence, the transition behaviour of the
steel/steel pair characterized by higher kinetic than static
friction can be explained by destroying of oxide lms, abra-
sive grooving and formation of adhesive junctions connected
with material transfer between the surfaces in contact. It
was reported of another study on this steel 100Cr6 (or AISI
52100) that the destruction of the natural oxide layer of an
estimated thickness of 3 nm may be the consequence of the
pull-out of carbides from the surfaces mated [20].
In the present study, transition behaviour was changed
and kinetic friction of the steel/steel pairs was remarkably
reduced by oil lubrication. Stick-slip effects (Fig. 6a) oc-
curred on the self-mated lubricated steel pairs with polished
plate surfaces at higher normal load. This was attributed to
squeezing out of the oil from the contact area with onset of
sliding and hence increasing asperities contact on the mated
surfaces. In addition, protruding carbides of the steel sur-
faces can produce abrasive grooving. As a consequence, the
friction (tangential) force increases until the resistance to
stick owing to grooving, asperity interlocking and/or adhe-
sive junctions is overcome and slip occurs.
Transition behaviour of the steel/alumina pairs was at-
tributed to abrasive grooving of the steel surface by rough-
ness peaks of the harder alumina surfaces. Hence, kinetic
friction should be increased with increasing surface rough-
ness of the Al
2
O
3
plate specimens and increasing normal
load which is conrmed by the experimental results (Fig. 3c
and 3d).
Fig. 10 shows the friction force of the unlubricated
100Cr6/Al
2
O
3
pair with coarse ground (AsD) plate and
SEM micrographs of the contact surface of the steel ball.
The micrograph taken after loading and 60 s of resting
374 D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr / Wear 255 (2003) 365375
Fig. 10. Tangential (friction) force measured on unlubricated 100Cr6/Al
2
O
3
pair with coarse (AsD) ground alumina plate at normal load of 10 N and
amount of relative sliding versus time of testing. SEM micrographs of the contact area of the polished steel ball after different times of testing (see point
at the F
T
t curve, arrows indicate direction of tangential force applied).
shows a few surface marks owing to plastic deforma-
tion during static contact. After onset of rst sliding, the
friction force increased to high values (point 2) owing
to deeper and more numerous penetration of roughness
Fig. 11. Schematic description of the main mechanisms at the transition from static to kinetic friction in the contact area of the different material pairs
(F
s
: static friction force, F
k
: kinetic friction force).
peaks of the Al
2
O
3
ceramic into the surface of the steel
ball.
When the tangential force overcomes the resistance to
abrasive grooving of the steel surface (point 2), the kinetic
D.-H. Hwang, K.-H. Zum Gahr / Wear 255 (2003) 365375 375
friction force increased only moderately between 4 and 10 s
of testing time. The micrographs at point 3 show a lot of
plastic deformation and grooves on the steel surface where
the length of the grooves corresponds roughly to the length
of relative sliding from point 2 to point 3.
Fig. 11 summarizes the mechanisms which were at-
tributed to static and kinetic friction, respectively, both for
unlubricated and lubricated contact, however, with differ-
ent intensity. Static and kinetic friction was determined
with steel/steel pairs by destroying of natural oxide lms,
micro-grooving owing to protruding carbides of the steel
and forming or breaking, respectively, of adhesive junc-
tions. The behaviour of the steel/alumina pairs was charac-
terized by penetrating of asperities or roughness peaks of
the alumina surface into the steel and following abrasive
grooving after onset of sliding. The friction behaviour of
Al
2
O
3
/Al
2
O
3
pairs resulted from mechanical interlocking
of asperities or roughness peaks (depending on the surface
nish) with asperities or cavities owing to pores or pull-out
of grains on the mated surfaces. Onset of relative sliding
led to micro-grooving or micro-fracture on the scale of sur-
face roughness and trapping of wear particles in the contact
area.
5. Conclusions
Transition behaviour of steel/steel, steel/alumina and
alumina/alumina pairs was studied under unlubricated and
lubricated conditions. The effect of materials mated on the
static coefcient of friction appeared by the highest value
with the steel/Al
2
O
3
pair and the lowest value with the
self-mated steel pair. At an extremely low sliding speed of
8.3 m/s, the kinetic coefcient of friction measured after
about 100 m of relative sliding was substantially greater
than the static value with the steel/steel but about equal
with the self-mated Al
2
O
3
pair. Both static and kinetic
coefcients of friction increased with increasing surface
roughness with the steel/Al
2
O
3
pair. However, the effect of
surface roughness was less pronounced with the self-mated
material pairs. The static coefcient of friction of the
steel/Al
2
O
3
pairs increased with increasing normal load but
its value was less affected by normal load with the pairs of
self-mated materials.
Lubrication by mineral oil inuenced the static coefcient
of friction only moderately but reduced kinetic friction. Re-
duction of friction by lubrication was more pronounced at
higher normal loads.
Static and kinetic friction was attributed to main ef-
fects such as destroying of natural oxide lms, plastic
deformation, forming adhesive junctions, micro-grooving,
micro-fracture and mechanical interlocking between asper-
ities, roughness peaks or cavities on the mated surfaces and
small wear debris was trapped between the mated surfaces.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Deutsche Forschungs-
gemeinschaft (DFG) in context with the Sonderforschungs-
bereich 483 High performance sliding and friction systems
based on advanced ceramics. The authors thank Mr. Sergej
Soloviev for carrying out some friction experiments.
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