Metals and their Tribological Applications

The selection of metals is an essential and tricky step to achieve the product's best outcomes. Metals for industrial applications require several properties, such as ductility, malleability, hardness, strength, corrosion resistance, thermal expansion, availability, reusability, etc. When it comes to tribological applications, hardness, strength, and surface properties are the primary necessities. Alloying, heat treatment and surface treatment are the various techniques to attain these metals’ properties. Due to extensive research for a long time, many metal alloys already exist for tribological applications. However, achieving all the properties in a single metal is not possible. The product developers have to pick the appropriate metal according to the application requirements by understanding the wide variety of metals and their functional properties. Hence, this chapter gives a comprehensive reference for the various metal alloys and their applications. Firstly, metals are broadly classified based on their primary composition. Then, the metallurgical characteristics, alloying elements, physical and mechanical properties of the various metals are explained. Lastly, the tribological applications of those metals are discussed.

Keywords: AISI 304 Stainless steel, Aluminium alloys, Babbitt, Bearing materials, Cast iron, Copper alloys, Ferrous metals, Friction, Hardness, Mechanical properties, Metallurgy, Metal alloys, Nodular cast iron, Non-ferrous metals, Steels, Superalloys, Tool steels, Tribological applications, Wear.