Abstract:In order to develop a new type of amorphous alloy whose composition is far away from the eutectic point of Cu56Zr44 and explore a piston material used biomass fuel new energy vehicle. In this paper, (Cu56Zr44)1-xYx (x=0, 1, 3 and 9 at.%) samples were prepared by the single-roller rapid quenching, the phases, thermodynamic parameters and nano-hardness of the samples were checked, as well as the tribological properties of the samples under ethanol-gasoline diluted engine oil were measured. The results showed: (Cu56Zr44)1-xYx samples are completely composed of amorphous structure, with Y content increasing from 1 at.% to 9 at.%, the ΔTx and Trg of the (Cu56Zr44)1-xYx amorphous sample decreases from 61K to 51K and 0.670 to 0.658, but are still higher than 49K and 0.644 of Cu56Zr44 amorphous sample, i.e., the glass forming ability (GFA) and thermal stability of Cu56Zr44-based alloy are enhanced by Y doping. With Y content increasing from 1at.% to 9at.%, the nano-hardness of (Cu56Zr44)1-xYx amorphous sample decreases from 8.83GPa to 7.33GPa (higher than 6.82GPa of Cu56Zr44). The friction coefficient and wear rate at 10N and 20N loads increase (lower than the ones of Cu56Zr44), i.e., the mechanical and tribological properties of Cu56Zr44-based alloy are significantly improved by Y doping. At the same experimental conditions, the friction coefficient and wear rate of (Cu56Zr44)1-xYx amorphous samples are lower than those of ZL109 Al alloy. The highest reduction of wear rates are as high as 98.62% and 97.79% at the two loads, namely (Cu56Zr44)1-xYx amorphous alloy possesses very excellent anti-wear performance than ZL109 Al alloy under ethanol-gasoline dilution engine oil lubricantion, which also provides a certain theoretical and experimental guidance for the research and development of a new piston material used in biomass fuel-fueled new energy automobile.