Third body effects on graphite/XC48 steel magnetized sliding contact

This paper completes previous studies concerning the mechanisms governing f riction and wear of a steel/graphite couple under an external applied magne tic field. Friction tests were performed in a controlled chamber with a mag netised steel pin sliding against a graphite disk exposed to oxygen, argon, and vacuum environments. Wear debris and friction tracks generated by reac tions with the gases after sliding, with and without magnetic field were id entified ex situ by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ra y analysis. It shows that the magnetic field modifies the third body behavi or which depends on the gases surrounding the contact; this governs the fri ction state, the type of graphite wear (fatigue or abrasive wear), and the surface reactivity.