Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2011
The purpose of this work was to study the effect of ductile phases on the wear of brittle intermetallic compounds. The material system of interest was NiAl with an incorporated ductile Fe phase. Three different compositions were studied: Fe10Ni45Al45, Fe30Ni35Al35, and Fe44Ni28Al28, each after two different heat treatments. Their wear behavior in unlubricated sliding against zirconia was investigated using pin-on-disk tests at room temperature in air. Hardness and fracture toughness tests were run for the same materials to clarify the relationship between wear and deformation. Results for the ductile-phase toughened materials were compared with results of similar tests for unalloyed NiAl.