Zn-Al-Cu alloys are predominantly used due to their tribological properties. One of the crucial issues related to the use of Zn-Al alloys is their dimensional instability. Partial replacement of copper with titanium greatly contributes to the reduction of the dimensional instability issue. The study involved the ZnAl40Cu1.5Ti1.5 alloy. In this work, microstructure and wear properties of ZnAl40Cu1.5Ti1.5 alloy were studied in both as-cast and heat treated conditions. The heat treatment was performed by solution treatment at a temperature of 385°C for 24 hours, quenching in cold water and artificial aging at 125°C for 3 hours. The hardness tests enabled to specify the optimum ageing time span, which amounts to 3 hours. Wear tests indicated that the ZnAl40Cu1.5Ti1.5 alloy is characterized with high wear resistance. It was also observed that the applied heat treatment increases the wear resistance of the experimental alloy.

The article describes the need to collect and analyse data on stereological features of car tire and brakesystem friction material wear products, as required under new European Union regulations and by the projectto expand the existing T–01M tester with a separation chamber and equipment enabling their capture. Thestructure of the chamber is described and the conditions for measuring the average diameter of particlesemitted by the tested contacts are presented. The basic task of the additional chamber is to separate thesurroundings of the tested friction node from environmental influences and to enable the capture of wearproducts to measure stereological features and analyse their chemical composition. A unidirectional filteredair flow towards the friction node is provided in the separation chamber in order to limit the deposition of wearproducts on the tester components. Mounting the separation chamber does not require any interference in thestructure of the T–01M tester, because it is mounted on a sealed base frame screwed to the station plate. Thechamber is equipped with holders for mounting a replaceable filter at the air inlet and a removable cycloneparticles separator with a container for wear debris collected.