Production of a laser textured 316L stainless steel reinforced with CuCoBe + diamond composites by hot pressing: Influence of diamond particle size on the hardness and tribological behaviour

摘要： Two composite blends of CuCoBe and synthetic diamond with different particle sizes, (0.1-0.5 μm and 40-60 μm), were obtained by mechanical alloying and were used as a reinforcement of a laser textured 316L stainless steel in this work. Consolidation/sintering of the powders was conducted by hot pressing. From all the samples studied, the 316L stainless steel reinforced with the CuCoBe + diamond (40-60 μm) composite presented the lowest values of specific wear rate and coefficient of friction (5.83 x 10-7 mm3/N.m and 0.14, respectively), showing the potential of this material in applications where good tribological behaviour is required, e.g. for the fabrication of improved automotive piston rings.