Abstract: The water-lubricated sliding wear behavior of Si3N4 and Al203 against gray cast iron is studied on block-ring wear test machine type M-200. In order to compare with cast iron pairings, the friction and wear tests of 0.80％ steel/ceramics were also carried out. The morphology of the worn surfaces was examined under scanning electron microscope and microanalysis was conducted by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. The results showed that: the lowest friction coefficient appears in the case of Si3N4/cast iron and the wear of Si3N4 and cast iron is lower than that of Si3N4 and the steel in the case of Si3N4/steel pairings respectively. The reason is that there exists an oxide film containing graphite formed on the surface of cast iron in the wear process; The friction coefficient of Al203/cast iron and Al203/steel makes no difference. But the wear of gray cast iron is smaller than that of steel.

Key words: Ceramics, Friction and wear, Graphite, Gray cast iron