Effects of rare earth on the wear resistance of nickel aluminum bronze

Nickel-aluminum bronze (NAB) is widely used in engineering for gears, valves, propellers, and other parts due to its excellent mechanical properties, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance. In this study, NAB is optimized by adding different contents of rare earth (RE), and the microstructure and wear resistance were investigated. The results indicate that the addition of a small amount of RE enables the alloy to exhibit superior mechanical properties, which in turn significantly enhances its wear resistance. The NAB exhibited optimal wear resistance when the RE content was 0.08%. Under a load of 1200 N, the NAB with 0.08% RE exhibited a weight loss of 46 mg, which was 61.3% lower than that of the alloy without RE addition. Wear mechanism analysis revealed that the NAB without RE addition was predominantly governed by fatigue wear, whereas the NAB with RE addition was mainly attributed to abrasive wear.