Sliding wear characteristics of grey cast iron as influenced by sliding speed,load and environment

Abstract

The present investigation pertains to the observations made during sliding of a grey cast iron against a steel counterface over a range of sliding speeds, applied loads and test environments. The nature of the environment was altered through the presence of oil and suspended graphite particles therein. The presence of oil improved the wear characteristics of the samples in terms of lower wear rate and decreased frictional heating in general. An additional presence of suspended graphite particles in the oil lubricant brought about a further improvement in the wear response of the samples in all the test conditions except at the highest speed at high applied loads; the trend reversed in the latter case. Increasing speed and load led to deterioration in the wear behaviour. The behaviour of the material has been explained in terms of specific response of different microconstituents such as pearlite, ferrite and graphite and corroborated with the observed features of wear surfaces, subsurface regions and debris particles.