Summary: | Quasicrystals have been used in various applications to improve wear resistance as well as friction. It is known that quasicrystal (i-phase) content and microstructure in alloys have a decisive effect on the mechanical properties and tribological performance. In this research, four (β + i)-dual-phased quasicrystal alloys with different i-phase content and grain size were developed to alleviate the brittleness of the i-phase with the help of the soft β-phase. The influences of the i-phase content and grain size were investigated through impact test, wear test, and analysis. Through the annealing process, the amount of the i-phase was increased by about 38% (59.24% → 81.75%), and, besides, the grain size of the i-phase was simultaneously increased from 3.47 μm up to 9.98 μm. As the amount of i-phase increased, it was possible to increase the hardness from 712 HV to 763 HV. Meanwhile, the increased grain size (i-phase) reduced the contact stress of the grain during wear testing; thus, the specific wear rate could be decreased from 2.21 × 10−4 mm3/Nm to 0.5 × 10−4 mm3/Nm. Not only that, but an experimental wear equation was obtained using empirical data to predict the wear behavior of the dual-phased alloys.
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