Abstract:Dry wear tests under atmospheric conditions at 25−200 °C and loads of 12.5−300 N were performed for AM60B alloy. The wear rate increases with increasing the load; the mild-to-severe wear transitions occur under the loads of 275 N at 25 °C, 150 N at 100 °C and 75 N at 200 °C, respectively. However, as the load is less than 50 N, the wear rate at 200 °C is lower than that at 25 °C or 100 °C. In mild wear regimes, the wear mechanisms can be classified into abrasive wear, oxidation wear and delamination wear. Delamination wear prevailed as the mild-to-severe wear transition starts to occur; the delamination occurs from the inside of matrix. Subsequently, plastic-extrusion wear as severe wear prevails accompanied with the transition. The thick and hard tribo-layer postpones the mild-to-severe wear transition due to restricting the occurrence of massive plastic deformation of worn surfaces.

Key words: magnesium alloy; dry sliding wear; oxidation; tribo-layer; wear mechanism