Oxygen Doping and Crystal–Amorphous Multiphase Coupling Synergistically Improve the Wear Resistance of NiTiCu Alloy
7 affiliations
- 1State Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing and Recycling of Non‐Ferrous Metals School of Materials Science and Engineering Lanzhou University of Technology Lanzhou China
- 2School of Mechanics and Transportation Engineering Northwestern Polytechnical University Xi'an China
- 3State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China
- 4Department of Materials Science and Engineering University of Tennessee Knoxville Tennessee USA
- 5Institute of Materials Intelligent Technology Liaoning Academy of Materials Shenyang China
- 6School of Mathematics and Physics of University of Science University of Science and Technology Beijing China
- 7State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials University of Science and Technology Beijing Beijing China
Abstract
NiTi shape memory alloys (SMAs) show excellent performance in vibration damping and corrosion resistance. However, due to low hardness and lack of self‐lubrication, they suffer severe friction and wear during service. Although various strategies including doping and heterostructure design have been proposed, the effects are unsatisfactory. In this work, we present a series of (Ni 40 Ti 40 Cu 20 ) 100‐ x O x ( x = 0.1, 0.5) alloys with B2, B19', and worm‐like amorphous phases. These alloys display extremely low wear rates (7.553 × 10 −7 and 6.15667 × 10 −7 mm 3 N −1 m −1 ) under a load of 15 N, which are far lower than those of similar metallic structural materials (10 −4 to 10 −5 mm 3 N −1 m −1 ). It should be noted that for the two alloys, the wear rate decreases with the increase of load, whereas the friction coefficient shows an opposite trend, and the wear rates are all in the range of 10 ‐ 6 to 10 −7 mm 3 N −1 m −1 . The above‐mentioned excellent performance can be attributed to the following three aspects: (1) the B19' phase and the amorphous phase provide a very high level of hardness; (2) density functional theory (DFT) calculations prove that, under the action of frictional heat, B19' tends to precipitate metal cations, forming a dense oxide film that also has a certain lubricating effect. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis shows that both alloys contain Ti 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , NiO, CuO, etc.; (3) during the friction process, the phase transformation from B2 to B19' and the HDI heterogeneous hardening effect between the crystalline and amorphous phases can effectively relieve the micro‐cutting and micro‐plastic deformation of the friction pair. This design provides a new solution for NiTi SMAs to achieve both friction and wear performance and functional characteristics in engineering applications.
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BibTeX
@article{ma2026oxygen,
title = {{Oxygen Doping and Crystal–Amorphous Multiphase Coupling Synergistically Improve the Wear Resistance of NiTiCu Alloy}},
author = {Huwen Ma and Yuanzhang Zhao and Qingxin Xu and Jiacheng Xiang and J.C. Qiao and Yu Su and Shenshen Liu and Hui Li and Jinhui Yan and Fuling Tang and Kaixiong Gao and Peter Kaehuei Liaw and Peiqing La and Yuan Wu},
journal = {Rare Metals},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1002/rar2.70319},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/rar2.70319},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Oxygen Doping and Crystal–Amorphous Multiphase Coupling Synergistically Improve the Wear Resistance of NiTiCu Alloy
AU - Huwen Ma
AU - Yuanzhang Zhao
AU - Qingxin Xu
AU - Jiacheng Xiang
AU - J.C. Qiao
AU - Yu Su
AU - Shenshen Liu
AU - Hui Li
AU - Jinhui Yan
AU - Fuling Tang
AU - Kaixiong Gao
AU - Peter Kaehuei Liaw
AU - Peiqing La
AU - Yuan Wu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/01
JO - Rare Metals
DO - 10.1002/rar2.70319
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/rar2.70319
AB - NiTi shape memory alloys (SMAs) show excellent performance in vibration damping and corrosion resistance. However, due to low hardness and lack of self‐lubrication, they suffer severe friction and wear during service. Although various strategies including doping and heterostructure design have been proposed, the effects are unsatisfactory. In this work, we present a series of (Ni 40 Ti 40 Cu 20 ) 100‐ x O x ( x = 0.1, 0.5) alloys with B2, B19', and worm‐like amorphous phases. These alloys display extremely low wear rates (7.553 × 10 −7 and 6.15667 × 10 −7 mm 3 N −1 m −1 ) under a load of 15 N, which are far lower than those of similar metallic structural materials (10 −4 to 10 −5 mm 3 N −1 m −1 ). It should be noted that for the two alloys, the wear rate decreases with the increase of load, whereas the friction coefficient shows an opposite trend, and the wear rates are all in the range of 10 ‐ 6 to 10 −7 mm 3 N −1 m −1 . The above‐mentioned excellent performance can be attributed to the following three aspects: (1) the B19' phase and the amorphous phase provide a very high level of hardness; (2) density functional theory (DFT) calculations prove that, under the action of frictional heat, B19' tends to precipitate metal cations, forming a dense oxide film that also has a certain lubricating effect. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis shows that both alloys contain Ti 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , NiO, CuO, etc.; (3) during the friction process, the phase transformation from B2 to B19' and the HDI heterogeneous hardening effect between the crystalline and amorphous phases can effectively relieve the micro‐cutting and micro‐plastic deformation of the friction pair. This design provides a new solution for NiTi SMAs to achieve both friction and wear performance and functional characteristics in engineering applications.
SN - 1001-0521
SN - 1867-7185
ER -