Citation: Zhang, L.; Yan, X.; Shu, Y.;
Yang, H.; Kang, X.; Cai, Z.; Zhu, M.
Contact Characteristics and
Tribological Properties of the
Weaving Surface of Mn-Cu and
Fe-Zn Damping Alloys. Materials
2022, 15, 3303. https://doi.org/
10.3390/ma15093303
Academic Editors: Alberto
Campagnolo and Alberto Sapora
Received: 10 March 2022
Accepted: 12 April 2022
Published: 5 May 2022
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Article
Contact Characteristics and Tribological Properties of the
Weaving Surface of Mn-Cu and Fe-Zn Damping Alloys
Lin Zhang
1,
*, Xindong Yan
1
, Ying Shu
1
, Hongjuan Yang
1
, Xiaomin Kang
2
, Zhenbing Cai
3
and Minhao Zhu
3
1
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China;
hpuxindong@163.com (X.Y.); shuying20000105@163.com (Y.S.); yhj1116@126.com (H.Y.)
2
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China; kxmswjtu@163.com
3
Institute of Tribology, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China; czb_jiaoda@126.com (Z.C.);
zhuminhao@139.com (M.Z.)
* Correspondence: zllz19891@163.com
Abstract:
In this paper, laser texturing is performed on the surface of Mn-Cu and Fe-Zn damping
alloys and the tribological properties of the samples with various surface weaves under dry-sliding
conditions are investigated. The results show that the surface weave parameters affect the size of the
contact surface and change the number of micro-convex bodies at the contact interface. This leads to
changes in the tangential damping of the contact and further affects the magnitude of the friction
coefficient. Additionally, the damping properties significantly affect the wear mechanism and make
it more prone to adhesive wear.
Keywords: damping alloys; tribology; contact characteristics; wear mechanism
1. Introduction
With the development of high-speed, high-efficiency and automated mechanical
equipment, the influence of vibration and noise are becoming increasingly prominent.
Damping alloys receive extensive attention and research due to their good mechanical prop-
erties, which are employed in gearing under vibration and high-friction conditions
[1–4]
.
T
he fric
tion reduction effects of damping alloys lie in the weakening of vibration during the
friction process [
5
]. The damping contact shows different tribological behaviors compared
with the rigid contacts, which possess a higher friction coefficient due to the hysteresis of
damping deformation [
6
–
8
]. The current research on the influences of damping properties
during friction mainly focuses on viscoelastic materials [
9
–
11
] or the damping factors in
interfacial contacts [
12
–
15
]. Zhang et al. [
16
–
18
] studied the effects of contact damping on
the friction process from the perspective of fractal theory, and theoretically established the
correlation between contact damping and friction process. Liu et al. [
19
,
20
] investigated the
friction characteristics in the presence of damping alloy during the wear process. However,
there is little research on the effects of the damping alloy as a counter-abrasive on the
friction process, especially after a change in material damping.
The damping mechanism of the damping alloys is quite different from that of the
viscoelastic materials [
21
], and the damping properties of the alloys are derived from
the internal defects of the metal. The heat-treatment changes the microstructure of the
damping alloys, resulting in changes in the surface hardness and Young’s modulus of the
material at the same time. Therefore, it is not ideal to improve the damping properties by
changing the alloy composition or using a heat-treatment process. Manganese copper alloy
is a widely used damping alloy with high-damping performance and good mechanical
properties, in which the martensite phase transformation of the phase twins is the source of
the damping performance [
22
,
23
]. Iron-zinc alloy is another widely used damping alloy,
and the source of damping in the Fe-Zn alloys is internal defects, such as dislocations [
24
,
25
].
In this study, the Mn-Cu and Fe-Zn damping alloys are selected to study the effects of the
Materials 2022, 15, 3303. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15093303 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
