Int. J. Appl. Ceram. Technol.

, 110 (2016)
DOI:10.1111/ijac.12583

Sliding Wear Behavior of TaC-Containing Ti(CN)-WC-Ni/Co

Cermets
Vikas Verma and B. Venkata Manoj Kumar*
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, Roorkee, India

Shinhoo Kang
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

Four compositions of TiCN-WC-Ni/Co cermets with or without TaC were prepared by pressureless sintering of respective
powders, and unlubricated sliding wear behavior against bearing grade steel ball was studied at 5, 10, or 20 N load. Maximum
hardness and fracture toughness were obtained for Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co-5TaC (in wt%) cermet. With change in the cermet
composition and sliding load, coefficient of friction varied from 0.3 to 1.0 and wear rate varied from 3 9 10
7 to
7 9 10
7 mm3/Nm. The increased material transfer and formation of iron oxide-rich tribochemical layer were responsible for
the reduction in friction and wear for Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co-5TaC cermet.
Keywords: wear; sliding; cermets; Ti(CN); TaC

Introduction
Ti(CN)-based cermets are reported to possess an
unique combination of properties like low density,
high hardness, reasonable toughness, ability to undergo
plastic deformation, superior wear and corrosion resistance, high strength, high thermal and electrical conductivity.17 Accordingly, Ti(CN)-based cermets are
preferred for several applications such as high speed
cutting tool inserts and dies for hard metal forming,
refractory parts of diesel, turbine and jet engines, hot
rolls, bearings, wire drawings, nozzles and throttles of
oil pipelines, excavating tools, etc.14 Microstructural
studies reveal a corerim structure for Ti(CN)-based
cermets, owing to the dissolution and reprecipitation
during sintering.68
Attempts are being made by many researchers to
design novel compositions of Ti(CN)-based cermets that
can impart improved mechanical and wear properties. It
was found that tungsten carbide promotes densification
and Ni or Co has good wettability with carbide
phases.46 It was also found that the addition of secondary carbides, that is, WC, TaC, NbC, or HfC, to Ti
(CN)-Ni system provides considerable variation in hardness or fracture toughness and influences wear behavior.913 The hardness of Ti(CN)-20 wt% Ni increased
from 10 to 12 GPa and fracture toughness changed from
14 to 15.5 MPa m1/2 with the addition of 10 wt% WC
or TaC. The wear resistance also improved with the
*manojpatruni@gmail.com; manojfmt@iitr.ac.in
2016 The American Ceramic Society

addition of WC.11,12 At least an order of magnitude

decrease in wear rate against steel ball was noted with
the addition of 10 wt% WC in Ti(CN)-20 wt% Ni
cermet.11
Thus, it is clear that Ti(CN)-WC-Ni cermets are
capable of good mechanical and wear properties. On the
other hand, the performance of Ti(CN)-20 wt% Ni cermets in orthogonal cutting conditions against boiler
grade steel was found to degrade when WC was added
beyond 10 wt%. It was attributed to the change in wear
mechanism from tribochemical wear to abrasion and
grain pull-out.13 In another study, wear resistance in
fretting conditions against bearing grade steel was
found superior for Ti(CN)-20 wt% Ni cermet containing 5 wt% of WC, whereas stress induced by the tungsten oxide-rich debris degraded the performance when
WC was added beyond 15 wt%.14
In order to further improve the performance of Ti
(CN)-based cermets in severe wear conditions, mechanical properties and thermal shock resistance should be
improved. Among transition metal carbides, TaC is considered for the consistent mechanical behavior and superior resistance against crack propagation.1519 In the
present study, the effect of TaC addition on the
microstructure, mechanical properties and tribological
behavior of Ti(CN)-5 wt% WC-20 wt% Ni/Co cermets
was investigated. The cermets were prepared by conventional pressureless sintering, and sliding wear behavior
was studied against steel ball using a ball-on-disc tribometer. The dominant mechanisms of material removal
in the selected sliding conditions are elucidated.

International Journal of Applied Ceramic TechnologyVerma, Kumar, and Kang

Experimental Procedure
Cermet compositions for the present work were prepared using Ti(C0.5N0.5) (12 lm; Sigma Aldrich, St.
Louis, MO), WC (2 lm; Sigma Aldrich), TaC (<5 lm;
Sigma Aldrich), Ni (>100 mesh size, Central Drug House,
Mumbai, India), and Co (35 lm; The Metal Powder
Company, Thirumangalam, India) powders. Four batch
compositions (in wt%): Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni, Ti(CN)5WC-20Ni-5TaC, Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co, and Ti
(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co-5TaC were prepared and designated as C1, C2, C3, and C4, respectively. Powders were
mixed using a high-energy ball mill (PM100; Retsch,
Haan, Germany). The powders were mixed in a zirconia
vial at 250 rpm for 8 h with the zirconia ball to powder
ratio of 10:1. The mixed powder was compacted at
100 MPa and subsequently sintered in a horizontal tubular furnace having MoSi2 heating elements at 1550C for
2 h in flowing argon. Finally, sintered discs of 35 mm in
thickness and 20 mm in diameter were obtained.
Archimedes method was used to determine bulk
density of the sintered cermets. Relative density was calculated using the rule of mixture. Sintered cermet surfaces were polished using emery papers embedded with
abrasive particles of 9, 6, 3, or 1 lm size. A stylus-tip
profilometer (SJ400; Mitutoyo, Kawasaki, Japan) was
used to measure the arithmetic average roughness (Ra) of
polished surfaces and found to be less than 1 lm. The
polished surfaces were subjected to microstructural characterization using a scanning electron microscope
(FESEM; Quanta 200 FEG, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
or SEM, Zeiss, EVO18, Oberkochen, Gemany)
equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope
(EDS, Oxford Instruments, Buckinghamshire, U.K.).
Linear intercept method and image analysis were used to
estimate the average size of phases in microstructures of
the cermets. The hardness and fracture toughness of sintered cermets were estimated by Vickers indentation
(FEI, Kolhapur, India) at 10 kg for 15 s. Shettys formula20 was used in estimating fracture toughness of the
sintered cermets.
Polished Ti(CN)-based cermets were subjected to
sliding tests using a ball-on-disc wear tester (TR-201EM2; DUCOM, Bangalore, India) in unlubricated
ambient conditions (25  5C and 3035% RH). Commercially available bearing grade EN-31 steel balls of
10 mm diameter (~740 HV) were used as counterbodies.
Both the cermet discs and the steel balls were cleaned
ultrasonically in ethanol and dried. The steel ball was
fixed to make a track radius of 5.0 mm from the central
axis and cermet discs were rotated at a fixed rotational
speed of 500 rpm (linear speed of 0.22 m/s) for 20 min.

2016

A load of 5, 10, or 20 N load was applied on the ball

that resulted in a maximum Hertzian (initial) contact
stress of 1.0, 1.1, or 1.3 GPa, respectively. The tangential frictional force at the contact was measured online
and the coefficient of friction (COF) was estimated. The
width and depth of wear scar formed on the cermet disc
were measured using a stylus-tip profilometer. The diameter of circular wear scar on ball surface was measured
using SEM. At least five readings were considered for the
average dimensions of wear scar. Wear volumes (in
mm3) of the cermet disc and steel ball were computed as
per the following formulae:
Wear volume of cermet disc 2p  wear scar width
 wear scar depth
 wear scar radius
1
Wear volume of steel ball p  wear scar diameter4 =
64  radius of the ball
2
3

The specific wear rate (in mm /Nm) was calculated

from wear volume normalized for total sliding distance
and load. Sliding tests were performed at least four times
and averages of friction and wear results are reported.
The dominant wear mechanisms were identified using
SEM-EDS analysis of surfaces of worn cermet discs and
worn steel balls.

Results and Discussion

The bulk and relative densities of sintered cermets
are listed in Table I. The selected sintering conditions
resulted in full densities of the cermets (>97%). The
Table I. Designation, Composition (in wt%), and
Density of Sintered Cermets
Designation
C1
C2
C3
C4

Composition
Ti(CN)-5WC20Ni
Ti(CN)-5WC20Ni-5TaC
Ti(CN)-5WC10Ni-10Co
Ti(CN)-5WC10Ni-10Co5TaC

Density
(g/cc)

Relative
density %

5.6

97.0

5.9

98.7

5.7

98.9

5.8

98.5

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Ti(CN)-WC-Ni/Co-TaC Sliding Wear

liquid melt comprising of Ni or Ni/Co effectively dissolved Ti(CN), WC and/or TaC carbides and enabled
carbide solid solutions to precipitate out. The addition
of Co and/or TaC to the initial batch composition of Ti
(CN)-WC-Ni did not influence densification in the
selected sintering conditions.
Representative SEM images of polished surfaces of
sintered cermets are shown in Fig. 1. In general, back
scattered SEM images of all cermets primarily reveal
three major microstructural phases: core, rim, and binder
with distinct difference in their contrast. EDS study of
different phases was done repeatedly at five locations for
the microstructure of each cermet and a typical EDS
analysis for C1 cermet is shown in Fig. 2. The differences in wt% of heavy elements or metallic binders
obtained from EDS analysis is shown in Table II. In
general, EDS analysis revealed the major presence of Ti,
C, and N in the core phase, Ti, W, Ta, C, and N in the
rim phase and presence of Ni/Co along with Ti, W, Ta,
C, and N in binder phase. Results obtained from EDS
analysis suggest that black core phase is mainly Ti(CN),
gray rim phase is the solid solution of (Ti, W, and/or

Ta)(CN) and bright continuous phase is Ni and/Co.

During sintering, liquid binder phase dissolves Ti(CN)
and other carbide powders, and precipitates (Ti, W, and/
or Ta)(CN) rim solid solution around undissolved
carbide core phase. Thus, dissolutionreprecipitation
process contributes for the formation of corerim
morphology.6,7,2123
The effect of cermet composition on results
obtained from EDS analysis can be realized. A minimum
amount of Ti in core phase is obtained for C3 or C4
cermets having Ni-Co in the composition. The Ni-Co
liquid binder phase reacts with titanium carbonitride by
preferentially dissolving titanium carbide leaving titanium nitride undissolved.4 Thus, it led to the high dissolution of TiC in metallic liquid melt. Also, the Ti
content is more in core phases of C1 and C2 cermets.
The EDS analysis conducted at various locations of rim
phases of cermets reveals higher contents of Ti along
with W, Ta, and C in the rim phase of C4 cermet. Binder phase mainly consists of metallic binders forming liquid melt surrounding the corerim phase of the cermets.
In addition, the presence of Ti, W, or Ta is also

Fig. 1. Representative SEM (BSE) images of sintered cermets: (a) Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni, (b) Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni-5TaC, (c) Ti(CN)-5WC10Ni-10Co, and (d) Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co-5TaC.

observed in the binder phase of the sintered cermet (as

shown in Table II). Among binder phases of all the
investigated cermet, Ni and Co are high in their content

C1
C2
C3
C4

Cermet

Fig. 2. SEM-EDS analysis of sintered Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni cermet.

44.4
45.3
47.4
48.1






0.8
0.6
0.4
0.3






69.1
66.3
61.7
59.3

Ti

Core
Ti

0.4
0.2
0.1
0.2

18.2
17.3
19.2
20.0






W





0.3
11.2
0.1 11.1  0.1 10.0
0.2
12 .1
0.1 12.1  0.1 13.2

Ta

Rim

0.2
0.1
0.3
0.2

9.1
8.3
6.2
5.1






N
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.3

54.3
43.4
27.4
30.1






Ni

0.6
16.1
0.4
15.3
0.3 19.2  0.5 19.1
0.3 20.0  0.3 21.1

Co






Ti
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1

Binder

13.2
12.1
16.4
15.1






Ta
0.1
0.1 10.0  0.2
0.2
0.1 11.1  0.2

Table II. Major Results Obtained From EDS Analysis of Corerimbinder Phases of Sintered Cermets. Wt% of Elements is Shown

4
International Journal of Applied Ceramic TechnologyVerma, Kumar, and Kang
2016

Ti(CN)-WC-Ni/Co-TaC Sliding Wear

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in C4 cermet. Summarizing EDS analysis, the minimum

amount of Ti in core phase for C4 cermet indicates
maximum dissolution of ceramics for the cermet containing Ni-Co and TaC. The maximum presence of Ti, W,
Ta, or C in rim phase in C4 cermet also confirms maximum precipitation in the presence of Ni-Co and TaC.
Careful study of microstructures (Fig. 1) of sintered
cermets revealed differences in the size as well as the frequency of the core or rim phase. The carbide sizes (combined size of core and rim) obtained from ~200
measurements from each cermet microstructure are
shown in Table III. While maximum carbide size is
obtained in C1 cermet, C4 cermet shows the minimum.
The addition of TaC with Ni/Co binder in the cermet
led to restricted coarsening resulting in refined size of
carbides. Furthermore, C3 cermet having higher dissolution shows decreased carbide size, compared to C1 cermet. This is probably due to the high solubility of WC
with Co.4 Similar observation can also be made for the
cermets containing TaC, that is, for C2 and C4. When
Co was used, the dissolution increased and the carbide
size decreased in C4. Carbide size of 1.99 and 1.88 lm
are obtained for Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co, Ti(CN)5WC-10Ni-10Co-5TaC cermets compared to 2.32,
2.04 lm for Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni, Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni5TaC cermets, respectively.
The hardness and fracture toughness values of the
investigated cermets are listed in Table III. The Vickers
hardness varied from 14 to 16 GPa and fracture toughness from 8.75 to 9.25 MPa m1/2 with the change in
the composition. Previous studies on Ti(CN)-Ni cermets
prepared using different secondary carbides showed hardness from 9 to 12 GPa and fracture toughness from 12
to 15 MPa m1/2.11 The differences in hardness and fracture toughness of cermets investigated in the present
study are presumably due to the interfacial strength
between the rim and binder phases.24,25 Moderate thickness of the rim phase and fine grains contributed to the
improvement in transverse rupture strength, when 5 wt
% of TaC was added.22 Neither hardness nor fracture
toughness is influenced by the addition of only TaC to

the baseline C1 cermet composition. However, the cermets prepared using Ni/Co binder with/without TaC
resulted in higher hardness and fracture toughness (C3
and C4). Liquid Ni/Co binder is found effective in wetting the surfaces of carbide particles. The increase in the
carbide/binder interfacial strength suppresses the crack
propagation and enhances fracture toughness. The addition of Co relatively restricted grain coarsening and
resulted in improved hardness.4,5 A maximum hardness
and fracture toughness are obtained for C4 cermet.
When subjected to sliding against steel ball, the
investigated cermets showed an identical evolution of
friction. In general, the COF increases initially in
50300 s (running-in-period) and thereafter reaches
steady state. Typical COF plots for C2 cermet is shown
as a function of time in Fig. 3. Steady state friction was
due to the removal of hard asperity junctions that were
responsible for the increase in COF during initial running-in-period. Furthermore, the time required to reach
a steady state decreased from ~300 s at 5 N to ~50 s at
20 N. Figure 4 shows that the average steady state COF
varied from 0.25 to 1.0 with change in cermet

Fig. 3. Typical plots of coefficient of friction (COF) versus time

for Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni-5TaC cermet worn against steel ball at
different loads.

Table III. Hardness, Fracture Toughness, and Corerim Size of the Cermets
Carbide (Core + rim) size (lm)
Designation

Linear intercept method

C1
C2
C3
C4

2.32
2.04
1.97
1.88






0.3
0.1
0.2
0.1

Image analysis
2.16
1.86
1.71
1.61






0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1

HV10 (GPa)
14.05
13.91
15.02
16.26






0.2
0.1
0.3
0.5

KIc (MPa m1/2)

8.75
8.73
9.01
9.25






0.3
0.3
0.4
0.4

International Journal of Applied Ceramic TechnologyVerma, Kumar, and Kang

2016

Fig. 4. Average steady state coefficient of friction (COF) values of

cermets as a function of composition and load.

composition and sliding load. Previous investigations

reported COF values ranging from 0.2 to 0.8 for Ti
(CN)-based cermets.1115,26,27 However, COF data for
Ti(CN)-based cermets containing TaC and Co are not
available in the literature. The high values of COF in
brittle solids are generally attributed to rough contacts
generated from mechanical fracture or the formation of
hard debris in the contact. The COF decreased with
increase in sliding load from 5 to 20 N. The C2 cermet
exhibits a maximum COF of 1.0 at 5 N load and C4
cermet exhibits a minimum COF of 0.25 at 20 N load.
Thus, the addition of TaC in Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni
increased friction to the maximum, whereas the addition
of TaC in TiCN-5WC-10Ni-10Co reduced the friction
to the minimum. The formation of smooth surface contacts for C4 cermets are explained in the later section.
Wear rates of investigated Ti(CN)-based cermets
and steel balls are shown in Figs. 5a and b, respectively.
Wear rate reduced with increase in load (Fig. 5a). The
C2 cermet exhibits the highest wear rate of
7 9 10
7 mm3/Nm at 5 N among the cermets, whereas
the lowest wear rate of 3 9 10
7 mm3/Nm is noted for
C4 at 20 N. A wide range of wear rate from 10
7 to
10
6 mm3/Nm was reported by previous researchers for
various Ti(CN)-based cermets.1,7 Wear rate of the counterbody steel ball varies in the range of 10
5
10
4 mm3/Nm (Fig. 5b). The highest and lowest wear
rates of 3 9 10
4 and 7 9 10
5 mm3/Nm are found
for steel balls slid against C4 and C2 cermets, respectively. Wear of steel ball slid against the least worn cermet is the maximum, whereas the wear of steel ball slid
against the most worn cermet is the minimum.
Detailed analysis for the worn surfaces of cermets
and steel balls was done to identify dominant mechanisms of material removal in the selected conditions of

Fig. 5. Wear rate of (a) cermets and (b) steel balls as a function
of composition and load.

sliding. Representative SEM images of worn surfaces of

investigated cermets are shown in Fig. 6. SEM image of
worn C1 cermet reveals characteristic grain pull-out
(Fig. 6a). In addition, the worn surface shows adhered
material, deformed in the sliding direction. Thus, there
exists a combination of mechanical fracture and adhesion
for the C1 cermet when slid against 5 N load. The soft
binder phase is subjected to extrusion and removal followed by pull-out and fracture of carbides during sliding.2,27,28 The pulled-out carbides are compacted, with
further sliding, to form a layer on the surface. With
increase in load to 20N, the worn C1 cermet surface
shows increased width of wear track (inset in Fig. 6b)
and increased fracture (Fig. 6b). For the C2 cermet containing TaC, the surface worn at 5 N load shows
increased pull-out as well as the presence of adhered
layer (Fig. 6c). With increase in load to 20 N, the layer
formation is not increased (Fig. 6d). When Ni and Co
are used, the C3 cermet surface worn at 20 N reveals
dominant layer (Fig. 6e). However, significant fracture
of the layer exposed the underneath material for further
wear. The surface of C4 cermet is completely covered

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Ti(CN)-WC-Ni/Co-TaC Sliding Wear

Fig. 6. SEM images of (a) Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni worn at 5 N (b) Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni worn at 20 N (c) Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni-5TaC worn
at 5 N (d) Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni-5TaC worn at 20 N (e) Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co worn at 20 N, and (f) Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co5TaC worn at 20 N. Corresponding wear track images are shown in insets. Arrow in inset indicates sliding direction.

with a continuous and strongly adhered layer (Fig. 6f).

Thus, a transition in dominant wear mechanism is
observed from the fracture and carbide pull-out in C1 to
the formation and removal of a layer for C4.
On the other hand, typical SEM images of ball
worn against C4 cermet at 5 N load (shown in Fig. 7a)

primarily reveal polishing of surface and absence of layer.

The scar size was reduced and thin layers were found on
the periphery of the scar when slid at 20 N (see Figs. 7b
and c).
In order to understand the chemistry of the contact
surface layers, EDS studies were conducted for the worn

International Journal of Applied Ceramic TechnologyVerma, Kumar, and Kang

2016

Fig. 7. The surfaces of steel balls worn against Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co-5TaC cermet at (a, b) 5 N and (c, d) 20 N. EDS spectrum
obtained from point indicated in (c) is shown in (d).

Fig. 8. EDS analysis of cermets worn at 20 N load (a) Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni (b) Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni-5TaC (c) Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni10Co, and (d) Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co-5TaC.

surfaces of the cermets and balls. Typical EDS spectra

obtained from the layers formed on the cermet surfaces
worn at 20 N load are shown in Fig. 8. In general, EDS
analysis shows the presence of elements of cermet, that

is, Ti, W, C, N, Ni, Co, and/or Ta, as well as Fe of

steel ball. In addition, the presence of oxygen suggests
that the layer is composed of oxides. The formation of
such mechanically mixed layer is often reported as the

Ti(CN)-WC-Ni/Co-TaC Sliding Wear

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consequence of material transfer in the sliding wear of

ceramic composites.28,29 Thus, the extent of material
transfer differs for the investigated cermets. On the other
hand, EDS analysis obtained from the steel ball surface
worn against C4 cermet at 20 N reveals negligible presence of Ti (see Fig. 7d).
In order to understand the effect of cermet composition on the material transfer, careful examination of
weight percentage ratios of iron to titanium obtained
from EDS analysis of cermets worn at 5 N load, and
weight percentage ratios of titanium to iron obtained
from EDS analysis of steel balls worn at 5 N load was
carried out. EDS analysis is done repeatedly at five locations and the average of readings is reported. A minimum ratio of 0.8 or 0.7 is found for C1 or C2 cermet,
whereas a maximum ratio of 4.8 is obtained for C4 cermet (Table IV). This indicates that the iron or iron
oxide removed from the steel ball is transferred to minimum extent onto the baseline cermet (C1) or the cermet
containing TaC (C2). The material transfer from steel
ball increased with the addition of Co, which can be
attributed to high hardness of C3 cermet. The steel ball
is severely abraded and iron or iron oxide transfers to the
maximum extent when the hardest cermet (C4) containing TaC and Ni/Co is slid. The formation of iron
oxide-rich continuous layer is responsible for the reduced
wear and friction for C4 cermet. On the other hand, the
ratio of titanium to iron obtained from EDS analysis
from ball surfaces worn against C2 is 0.12 and decreased
to 0.03 with the addition of Co and TaC in the cermet
composition (Table IV). Small ratios of titanium to iron
essentially indicate negligible transfer from the cermet.
Combining results obtained from EDS analysis of worn
cermet and steel ball surfaces, it is clear that a significant

Table IV. Results From Material Transfer Studies

From Cermet to Ball and Ball to Cermet Worn at
5 N Load as a Function of Cermet Composition
Weight ratio of iron
to titanium obtained
from EDS analysis of
Cermet worn cermet surfaces
C1
C2
C3
C4

0.83
0.66
1.24
4.81






0.01
0.01
0.02
0.03

Weight ratio of
titanium to iron
obtained from EDS
analysis of worn ball
surfaces
0.12
0.14
0.03
0.03






0.02
0.02
0.001
0.002

material transfer occurs from the steel ball surfaces to the

cermet discs only.
The influence of microstructural and mechanical
characteristics on wear behavior of the investigated cermets can now be understood. Referring to EDS analysis,
the minimum amount of Ti in the core phase and the
maximum amount of Ti, W, Ta in rim phase of C4 cermet (Table II) reveal the maximum dissolution and
reprecipitation of carbides which occur during sintering.
Accordingly, the size of carbide is found to be refined
when Co and TaC were used in the composition. In all
the four investigated cermets, Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co5TaC (C4) has the highest hardness of 16.26 GPa and
fracture toughness of 9.25 MPa m1/2 (Table III). During
sliding, the deformation or removal of binder phase followed by the fracture or pull-out of carbides. High hardness in C4 results in restricted deformation or removal
of binder phase, while increased fracture toughness can
be attributed to the limited fracture of carbides.
Accordingly, the wear occurred for C4 cermet is the least
(refer Fig. 5a).

Conclusions
Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni, Ti(CN)-5WC-20Ni-5TaC, Ti
(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co, and Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co5TaC were prepared by pressureless sintering in argon
atmosphere. The effects of TaC and Co addition on
mechanical and tribological behavior of sintered cermets
in unlubricated sliding conditions were investigated using
a ball-on-disc wear tester. The following are major
conclusions:
1. Sintered cermets reveal Ti(CN) core and (Ti,W)
(CN)/(Ti,W,Ta)(CN) rim solid solution. Vickers
hardness varied from 13.9 to 16.3 GPa and indentation fracture toughness from 8.73 to 9.25 MPa m1/2
with cermet composition. A combination of maximum hardness and fracture toughness is obtained for
Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co-5TaC cermet.
2. With a change in sliding load from 5 to 20 N, the
COF varied between 0.3 and 1.0 and the wear rate
changed from 3 9 10
7 to 7 9 10
7 mm3/Nm for
the investigated cermets. The wear rate of steel balls
varied from 7 9 10
5 to 3 9 10
4 mm3/Nm. The
Ti(CN)-5WC-10Ni-10Co-5TaC cermet exhibits
minimum COF, minimum wear rate of cermet and
causes maximum wear rate of steel ball at a high sliding load of 20 N.
3. A transition in wear mechanism occurs from fracture
and grain pull-out of cermet grains at a low load of

10

International Journal of Applied Ceramic TechnologyVerma, Kumar, and Kang

5 N to the removal of tribochemical layer at a high

load of 20 N.
4. Maximum extent of transfer of iron oxide from steel
ball results in the formation of a continuous and
strongly adherent tribochemical layer on the Ti(CN)5WC-10Ni-10Co-5TaC cermet surface.

Acknowledgments
B. V. Manoj Kumar would like to acknowledge partial support from the Faculty Initiation Grant No. FIG100566 of IIT Roorkee, India. S. Kang acknowledges
partial support by Industrial Strategic Technology Development Program, No. 10043203, funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MI, Korea).

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