Wear Characteristics of Carbon Steel: Plain
Wear Characteristics of Carbon Steel: Plain
Wear Characteristics of Carbon Steel: Plain
Plain carbon steel of nearly eutectoid composition (0.86 wt% C) has been subjected to annealing, normalising and
quenching followed by tempering treatment to attain different microstructures, viz. coarse pearlite, fine pearlite and
tempered martensite. The dry sliding wear characteristics of these heat-treated samples have been studied on pin-on-disc
type wear testing mac hine under different loads and at constant sliding velocity. Analysis of the wear test data along with
SEM of wear debris and worn surfaces reveal that the wear resistance depends on the microstructure and the morphology of
the phases. Coarse pearlite, fine pearlite and tempered martensite structure exhibit the wear resistance to be in decreasing
order. Analysis of the wear debris indicates that oxidative and metallic wear mechanisms are involved under different test
conditi ons employed in the present investigation.
Nonnai Load
V= 1 tTl/s
Fig. 3 - SEM of normalised specimen showing presence of fine
Fig. 1 - Test geometry of Pin-on-disc wear testing machine pearlite
356 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2000
structure contains round shape cementite particles wear. The best-fit lines were drawn for the two linear
distributed almost uniformly in the ferrite matrix. The segments by least square method. The wear rates of
size of these cementite particles is observed to vary in the samples at different loads were determined from
the range 0.20 to 0.90 )..l.m. the slopes of these segments. Fig. 6 shows the
variation of wear rate with load for both the linear
Wear characteristics segments. It is observed that the second linear
The wear characteristics of all the three heat-treated segment has a lower wear rate as compared to firs t
samples studied under normal loads of 2.5 , 3.5 and one for the same load. The wear rates in both the
4.5 kg and at constant sliding velocity of I mls linear segments show an almost linear behaviour wi th
exhibited a loss in volume with increasing load. The increasing load.
variation of wear volume with sliding di stance for 4~-------------------------------'
annealed sample is shown in Fig. 5. The data points
• I" Segment
were observed to lie primarily on two linear segments.
• liND Segment
Glasscott et al. 18 also observed simi lar trends. The
first segment corresponds to primary severe wear 3
~b
(run-in wear) and the second one for steady state ~
x
E
~-...
E
2
S
<V
1§
ffl
<V
J
O+-----~----,_----_r------r----~
2 3 4 5 6
Load (kg)
10 •
10 • 2.Skg
•
• 3.Skg
...
&
8 & 4.Skg 8
E
S 6
~
~
'0 4
>
o 20 40 60 80 100 120
o 20 40 60 80 100 120
Sliding distance (m x Hi)
Sliding distance (m x 1Ii)
Fig. 5 - Variation of wear vo lu me with sliding distance at
Fig. 7 - Variati on of wear vo lume with sliding distance at
different loads for anneal ed specimen
different loads for normalised specimen
GUPTA & PANDEY: WEAR CHARACTERISTICS OF PLAIN CARBON STEEL 357
The variation of wear vo lume with sliding distance and indentation hardness, and mUltiplying the result
for the normalised steel having fine pearlitic structure by the geometrical factor of three. The first linear
is shown in Fig. 7. Two linear segments are observed segment is observed to have a higher wear coefficient
here also as in case of annealed sample. The variation as compared to second linear segment for all the steel
of wear rate with increase in load for both the linear samples at different loads.
segments is shown in Fig. 8. The second linear
segment shows a relatively lower wear rate as Nature of wear surface and debris
compared to the first linear segment for the same load. The worn surfaces of the test pins examined under
Wear rate in the second linear segment for normalised 12~-----------------------------,
sample shows linear behaviour with increasing load,
simjlar to those observed in annealed sample but the
variation is nonlinear corresponding to wear rate 10 • 2.5kg
~~ ~
O+-----~----_.----_.----_r----~
0~----~----~,_----~------~----_4 2 3 4 5 6
2 3 4 5 6 Load (kg)
Load (kg)
Fig. 10 - Variation of wear rate with load for quenched and
Fig. 8 - Variati on of wear rate with load for normalised tempered specimen corresponding to first and second linear
specimen correspondin g to first and seco nd linear segments segments
358 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER . SCI., OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2000
SEM are shown in Fig.l1. Figs 11 a and 11 b represent progressively in the wear track and the contact
the micrographs of annealed steel tested at 2.5 kg and pressure increases. As more and more oxide is
4.5 kg load, respectively, whereas Figs 11c and lId produced, the metal-metal contact reduces thus
for tempered steel tested at 2.5 kg and 4.5 kg load, lowering the wear rate leading to transition from
respectively. Similar wear tracks were also observed severe wear to mild wear9 . Micrographs of the worn
for normalised steel. The samples tested at low load surfaces also indicate the presence of scoring marks,
were observed to be smooth except a few deep craters and areas of rough grooves in the direction of
grooves as shown in Figslla and lIc. SEM sliding. In some places, adhesion effect is also visible
examination of these worn out surfaces showed [Figs 11 b and lId]. It appears that the material has
cracking and spalli ng of wear track and oxide layer at been fragmented from craters. In some samples, a
higher load as shown in Figs 11 b and lId. Thus, it flake-type morphological feature in the debris sticking
appears that more oxide is generated at higher load. to surfaces was observed and their surface was scored.
Glasscott et al. 18 in their studies observed that oxide These types of features were also observed by other
debris generated during the process of wear build-up investigators2o•21 • The debris were also sticking to the
Table 1 - Wear coefficient for different heat-treated samples
Sample Linear segment Wear coefficient (kx 10-4) calculated for different A verage wear
segments at different loads coefficient
2.5 kg 3.5 kg 4.5 kg (k x 10--1)
Annealed First 6.22 6.03 5.76 6.00
Second 1.72 1.74 1.63 1.70
Normalized First 6.97 7.52 7.26 7.25
Second 3.13 2.70 2.25 2.69
Tempered First 8.98 8.0 1 8.21 8.40
Second 3.43 3. 16 2.97 3.19
surface of the wear track as can be seen in Figs 11 b direction of sliding is the characteristic feature of
and lId. worn out surfaces. The metallic lusture of the debris
The wear debris at shorter sliding distances (Fig. 12c) with fine wear track mark on it indicates
corresponding to first linear segments and long sliding that the material has come out from the surface either
distances corresponding to second linear segments from grooves or from craters. The presence of small
were also examined under SEM. The debris examined particles along with larger ones indicate that these
under SEM reveals different morphological features. have formed in the process of fragmentation of large
The presence of fine spherical particles, agglomerates particles. Debris are fine powders of oxides, red and
and flakes in the debris is for the first linear segment brown in colour. This shows that oxidative wear
which corresponds to severe wear as shown in Figs mechanism is operational at relatively low loads
12a and 12b for annealed steel tested at 2.5 and 4.5 kg whereas the presence of metallic particles in the
load, respectively. At longer sliding distance as shown debris at higher load indicates that metallic wear
in Fig 12c corresponding to second linear segment for dominates at higher load. Further, the debris collected
tempered steel, the presence of non spherical particles from the test run in the present investigation confirms
along with coarse oxide powders represents a mild oxidative and metallic modes of wear. The results in
wear. The formation of metallic wear particles and the the present investigation are in agreement with the
appearance of the wear pin surfaces at higher load earlier work observed by several investigators 22 - 28•
confirm severe damage and plastic flow of material as The wear rate of the first linear segment is
shown in Fig. 12d. The cracking and distortion consistently higher which may be attributed to: (a) the
observed due to severe plastic deformation in the inclusion of run-in period in this segment, and (b) the
360 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2000
development of oxide cover commensurate with increasing the temperature at the sliding surface. On
sliding condition. Once the extent of oxide cover the basis of wear coefficients, both in the first and the
reaches the dynamic equilibrium under a given sliding second linear segments, the coarse pearlite, fine
condition, the second linear segment develops. Thus, pearlite, and tempered martensite structure In
it is observed that the first linear segment has higher 0.86wt%C steel show the wear resistance in
wear coefficient compared to that observed in the decreasing order.
second linear segment as shown in Table 1. The two
stage wear, i.e., primary severe wear followed by Acknowledgements
secondary mild wear, as observed in the present The authors are thankful to Dean (R&D) and
investigation, is in agreement with the work of Director of the Institute for continuous
18
Glasscott et ai. • On the basis of wear coefficient, the encouragement. The experimental facilities for
coarse pearlite structure has the lowest wear characterisation provided by the Head, Materials
coefficient and it increases in the order for fine Science Division, TCIRD, Patiala, is greatly
pearlite and tempered martensite. From the results it acknowledged. The financial assistance for this work
appears that relatively coarse cementite plate in coarse was provided by UGC, New Delhi, vide Grant No.
pearlitic structure is able to hold better against sliding UGCIUASIMRPI1998-99.
wear than the fine cementite plates in fine pearlitic
structure. The masking of fine cementite plates by References
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