Wear resistance of steels under wet-abrasive erosion conditions

The wear resistance of 22 different steels with various heat treatments in a silica sand slurry was studied. Two types of slurry were used, a fresh sharp grain slurry, and a worn dull grain slurry.In the sharp grain slurry the wear resistance increased with the hardness of the steel. In the dull grain slurry the wear resistance was divided into two major groups. For the steels containing little or no chromium the wear resistance decreased slightly with an increase in the hardness of the steel. For steels with a higher chromium content the wear resistance was three times that of the steels with a low chromium content. The latter behaviour was thought to be the result of the abrasives removing only the products of corrosion and not the steel substrate.The role of corrosion was confirmed by testing three steels in the two types of slurry test, with and without a corrosion inhibitor.Hadfield manganese steel has poor wear resistance in both the sharp and the dull grain slurry. It is actually slightly worse in the dull grain slurry.     

马氏体球墨铸铁腐蚀磨损特性研究

对马氏体球墨铸铁在不同pH值石英砂浆中的静载三体腐蚀磨损特性进行了试验研究,并与铬白口铸铁进行了对比。结果表明：无论在静栽三体磨料磨损或静载三体腐蚀磨损中,马氏体球置铸铁均优于低铬白口铸铁。适当提高含硅量,有利于提高腐蚀耐磨损性,而且在酸性砂浆中效果较明显。     

Assessment of the erosion resistance of steels used for slurry handling and transport in mineral processing applications

The wear environment of steels used for containing, transporting and processing erosive mineral slurries is often such that fluid borne particles form a layer moving at high speed across the wearing surface. Information on the performance ranking of such materials is limited, particularly with respect to the influence of steel hardness and microstructure on the resistance to erosion. This is particularly important for the oil sands industry of Northern Alberta where handling and processing of essentially silica-based solids results in extremely severe wear conditions. This paper presents slurry erosion data obtained on 11 commercially available wear resistant plate and pipeline steels with hardness values up to 750 HV. These data were obtained using a Coriolis erosion tester operated at 5000 rpm with an aqueous slurry containing 10 wt.% of 200–300 μm silica sand particles.

The Coriolis erosion tester was selected because it provides a low-angle scouring action that simulates the erosive conditions encountered in oil sands and tailings pipeline transport and in some related processing operations. Results show that this test method is able to discriminate clearly between the erosion resistance of these steels, expressed in terms of specific energy (the energy necessary to remove unit volume of test material), with the most erosion resistant steel being more than five times superior to the least resistant. A graphical relation between steel hardness and erosion resistance is given. A comparison is also made between slurry erosion data and the performance of the materials in the ASTM G65 dry sand rubber wheel (DSRW) sliding abrasion test. Comments on the influence of the macro- and microstructures of the steels on their wear behaviour are included.     

A contribution to the surface analysis and characterisation of HVOF coatings for petrochemical application

The appropriate selection of bulk materials and coatings of valve components is an important factor for the economic success of oil and gas production activities in the petrochemical field. Materials and coatings are important because particle erosion and surface wear are associated to corrosion by hydrogen sulphide during oil and gas flow. The wear of high pressure valves of gas system will lead to pollution, safety problems and cost increases. The most common solution of these problems is the deposition of hard materials as tungsten carbide or chromium carbide by thermal spray. These coatings are deposited by high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) thermal spray process to obtain a very high hardness with excellent cohesion and adhesion. Tungsten carbide cobalt–chromium based coating, chromium carbide nickel–chromium coating as well as Inconel 625 have been adopted in the specifications of petrochemical companies and their behaviour and wear, erosion and corrosion properties are reported in the literature.

This paper addresses the experimental study, surface analysis and functional characterisation of HVOF coatings innovative for the specific application such as NiAl and composite material WC/intermetallic compounds containing Ni, Cr, Co and Mo. These coatings have been systematically submitted to corrosion and functional tests based on the determination of the behaviour of the coatings in H₂S and CO₂ atmosphere and to wear and erosion according to standard ASTM G75-95 (slurry test); material loss and surface damage have been determined; the coatings have been completely characterised from the point of view of the structure (morphology, porosity, hardness, wear) and of the surface properties by means of a prototype 3-dimensional (3-D) stylus micro-geometrical surface analysis system; their corrosion and functional behaviour have been compared with the behaviour of the above mentioned coatings.

The slurry test allows a clear discrimination among the performances of analysed coatings. Namely, WC/Mo compound, because of its carbide content, shows fairly good behaviour in an erosive environment and higher erosion resistance than Inconel 625 and NiAl; all the tested coatings show similar behaviour in a corrosive environment.     

The wear-resistant coating of steel by chemical vapour deposition

There is a steady increase in the use of chemical vapour deposition to deposit carbides of the transition metals onto the surface of steel. In this process the transition metal, in the form of a volatile chloride, is normally carried to the surface in a controlled manner by a carrier gas together with a carbon-containing reactant such as a gaseous hydrocarbon. These react at the steel surface to form a carbide layer on it which is smooth, hard, continuous and wear and corrosion resistant. The general features of the process are described for the specific coatings of titanium carbide and chromium carbide on high alloy ledeburitic carbon steels. By way of illustration three examples are discussed which are of industrial significance.     

新型车轮材料的磨损特性试验研究

采用JD-1型轮轨试验机对四种新型车轮材料做材料摩擦磨损特性试验研究,采用JA4103型电子称重仪对磨损后的试件进行磨损量测量,利用JB-6C轮廓仪对磨损后的轮廓进行分析。试验结果表明,在相同实验条件下,材料的磨损量随着含碳量的增加而减少,含碳量越高,耐磨性越强。磨损后磨痕粗糙度明显增加,磨痕的粗糙度与材料的含碳量、硬度等都没有明显的关系,并且本试验得到的磨痕粗糙度Ra为0.4μm左右。材料的耐锈蚀性与材料中的含铬量有着直接的关系,铬元素的抗锈蚀能力明显。     

Corrosive wear of carbon and austenitic stainless steels in NaCl solution

The wear rates of an AISI 52100 carbon steel and a type 316 austenitic stainless steel and the corrosion current I from the rubbing steels were measured in NaCl solution to study the interrelationship between the corrosion and wear of the steels. An on-off cyclic loading test was also conducted to examine the effect of static corrosion during an unloading period on the corrosive wear of the steels.

It was found that the wear rates of the carbon steel and the type 316 stainless steel reach a maximum at NaCl concentrations of about 3% and 0.1% respectively. The on-off cyclic test has shown that corrosive wear of the steels is influenced by static corrosion during an unloading period. The increment †I of the corrosion current due to sliding was associated with the corrosive wear rate of the steels.     

Abrasive erosive wear of powder steels and cermets

Composite materials produced by powder metallurgy provide solutions to many engineering applications that require materials with high abrasive wear resistance. The actual wear behaviour of a material is associated with many external factors (abrasive particle size, velocity and angularity) and intrinsic material properties of wear (hardness, toughness, Young modulus, etc.). Hardness and toughness properties of wear resistant materials are highly dependent on the content of the reinforcing phase, its size and on the mechanical properties of the constituent phase. This study is focused on the analysis of the (AEW) abrasive erosive wear (solid particle erosion) using different wear devices and abrasives. Powder materials (steels, cermets and hardmetals) were studied. Wear resistance of materials and wear mechanisms were studied and compared with those of commercial steels. Based on the results of wear studies, surface degradation mechanisms are proposed. The following parameters characterizing the materials were found necessary in materials creation and selection: hardness (preferably in scale comparable with impact), type of structure (preferably hardmetal type) and wear parameters characterizing material removal at plastic deformation.     

Effects of Chromium Addition on Microstructure and Abrasion Resistance of Fe–B Cast Alloy

This research work studies the effects of chromium on microstructure and abrasion resistance of Fe–B cast alloy. The results show that eutectic boride changes from continuous network to less continuous and matrix changes from pearlite to martensite with the increase in chromium content in the alloy. Meanwhile, an increase in chromium addition in the alloy leads to an increase in the chromium content in M₂B-type boride because chromium can enter boride by substituting for iron in Fe₂B. Under two-body wear, Fe–B cast alloy exhibits excellent wear resistance. When alloys are tested against soft abrasive, chromium can markedly improve the wear resistance of Fe–B cast alloy, whereas excessive chromium can reduce the wear resistance. The wear resistance of Fe–B cast alloy increases first and then decreases with the increase in chromium. But when tested against hard abrasive, since the hardness of SiC is much higher than that of M₂B boride, an increase in chromium content marginally increases the wear resistance. Weight losses of Fe–B cast alloy increase with the increase in the load and exhibit the linear relationship.     

Influence of alumina dispersoid and test parameters on erosive wear behaviour of a cast zinc–aluminium alloy

Observations made pertaining to the erosive wear characteristics of a cast zinc-based alloy and its composite containing 10 wt.% (corresponding to 11.2 vol.%) alumina particles have been presented in this study. Matrix alloy has also been tested under identical test conditions in order to examine the role played by second phase alumina particles on the erosive wear resistance of the matrix alloy. Eroded surfaces and subsurface regions of the specimens were also characterized to understand the operating wear mechanisms.The composite exhibited higher erosive wear resistance (inverse of erosive wear rate) than the unreinforced matrix alloy in general. Further, the wear rate increased with increasing impingement velocity as also evident from higher surface damage. Increasing angle of impingement at lower impinging velocity led to reduced erosive wear rate. On the contrary, the erosive wear rate increased initially with impingement angle, attained the peak and then decreased at still higher angles at the higher impingement velocity. The eroded surfaces showed more abrasion grooves at lower impingement angle and greater tendency of crater formation at higher angles of attack. In case of the composite, protrusion and fracture of the dispersoid phase was also noted. The composite also revealed less severe surface and subsurface damage than the matrix alloy.     

Corrosion and corrosion wear behaviour of plasma carburised Stellite 21 Co–Cr alloy

Abstract

Low temperature plasma surface alloying with carbon (i.e. plasma carburising) of Stellite 21 Co–Cr alloy was conducted at temperatures from 400 to 500°C for 15 h in a gas mixture of 98 vol.-%H₂ and 2 vol.-%CH₄. The surface treated layers were characterised by XRD, SEM and microhardness tests. The corrosion and corrosive wear behaviour of the plasma carburised Stellite 21 Co–Cr alloy were studied respectively using electrochemical tests and well designed reciprocating wear tests in 3·5% NaCl solution. The results show that low temperature (≤460°C) plasma carburising can improve the corrosion resistance of Stellite 21 alloy; the corrosive wear resistance of Stellite 21 can be enhanced by up to three times; and the best corrosive wear resistance is achieved at the highest treating temperature (500°C). The detailed studies on the wear tracks indicate that the corrosive wear process was dependent on the individual wear and corrosion, as well as the synergetic effect.     

基体组织对高钒高速钢干滑动摩擦磨损行为的影响

利用销环式滑动磨损试验机测试了具有不同基体组织的高钒高速钢的干摩擦磨损性能,并利用扫描电子显微镜对其失效行为进行了分析。结果表明：以低碳板条马氏体为主要基体组织的高速钢可同时较为有效地抵御显微切削与疲劳磨损,其组织中均匀分布的高硬度VC能够充分发挥抗磨骨架作用,因而具有最优的耐磨性。基体组织为铁素体时,基体无法对VC提供有效的支撑,磨损失效形式为严重的显微切削及表面粘着磨损,耐磨性很差。基体以面碳马氏体为主时,抵抗循环疲劳和热疲劳的能力较差,导致耐磨性下降。     

Wear behaviour of some low alloyed steels under combined impact/abrasion contact conditions

The wear behaviour of some low alloyed steels has been investigated using a laboratory impeller–tumbler wear test equipment in which the steel samples are worn by angular granite particles under combined impact/abrasion wear contact conditions. The wear of the steels was evaluated by weight loss of the steel samples while the wear mechanisms of the steels were investigated by post-test light optical microscopy (LOM), scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The worn steel surfaces display a very rough surface topography with pronounced craters and distinct grooves caused by high and low angle impacts, i.e. abrasive wear, respectively. Besides, fragments of embedded granite particles are frequently observed in the worn surface of the steels. The wear of the steels tends to decrease with increasing steel hardness. However, instead of using the bulk hardness value the hardness of the worn/plastically deformed surface layer should be used when modelling the wear resistance. Further, the wear resistance of the steels was found to be dependent on the microstructure and chemical composition. Steels with similar type of microstructure show a linear decrease in weight loss with decreasing grain size and increasing carbon content.     

Influence of microstructure on erosion resistance of steels

Erosive wear due to solid particle impingement is a very intensive degradation process of surface layers of metallic materials. Erosion resistance is influenced by the working conditions (impact angle, impact velocity of solid particles, size, shape, hardness and amount of impinging particles) and the parameters of the worn material like hardness and microstructure. In our experiments some structural and tool steels were tested by slurry with SiO₂ particles at a flow velocity of 20 m/s. The microstructures of the tested steels were modified in a broad range by changing the conditions of their heat treatment. Increasing pearlite share in the structure of annealed carbon and low-alloyed steels has a positive effect on their erosion resistance. The growing carbon content in the tested hardened steels increases their erosion resistance. Maximum erosion resistance was found in hardened chromium ledeburite steel. Hardened high-speed steel HS 11-0-4 in spite of its high hardness has lower erosion resistance than ledeburitic chomium steels. An increasing amount of retained austenite and decreasing carbide and martensite shares with growing quenching temperature of the tested ledeburitic chromium steels leads to the reduction of their erosion resistance.     

The Influence of the Matrix Microstructure on Abrasive Wear Resistance of Heat-Treated Fe–32Cr–4.5C wt% Hardfacing Alloy

The abrasion wear resistance of Fe–32Cr–4.5C wt% hardfacing alloy was investigated as a function of matrix microstructure. In this study, the alloy was deposited on ASTM A36 carbon steel plates by the shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) process and the as-welded matrix microstructure was changed into ferrite, martensite, and tempered martensite by heat treatment processes. The Pin-on-disk test results show that under low (5 N) and high (20 N) load conditions, the wear resistance behavior of the as-welded matrix sample is 20 and 15% higher, respectively, than the martensitic matrix sample, although the bulk hardness of the as-welded matrix is 5% lower. The ferritic matrix sample has the poorest wear resistance behavior which is less than half of that of the as-welded matrix one. Micro-ploughing, micro-cutting, and micro-cracking are recognized as the micro-mechanisms in the material removal in which the proportion of micro-ploughing mechanism increased by increasing matrix toughness.     

Scale behavior in erosion-corrosion of low alloy steels

Low alloy steels containing some chromium and other alloying elements with regular silicon content, together with the same chromium content steels containing extra silicon, were tested at the velocities and temperatures which can occur in atmospheric fluidized-bed combustors. It was determined that the particular characteristics of the scale formed on the alloys contributed to the metal wastage that occurred. The low chromium content steels which contained extra silicon (1.4–1.5 wt.%) had markedly lower metal loss than regular silicon content steels had, even lower than that of higher chromium content, regular silicon content steels. The role of the extra silicon that increases the erosion-corrosion resistance of the steels is under investigation.     

Erosive and erosive-corrosive wear behaviour of cast nitrogenated stainless steels

Corrosive-erosive and erosive wear in cast low nickel nitrogenated austenitic stainless steels is higher than that in a standard CF8 grade steel. Niobium addition (I wt.%) to such (FeCrNiMnN) stainless steels, however, improves their resistance to both corrosive-erosive and erosive wear.     

含碳量对20%Cr合金氧化和高温磨损性能的影响

对不同含碳量的20%Cr合金进行了900℃大气气氛下的抗氧化性试验,测定了在此温度下的氧化动力学曲线,并在自制的高温磨损试验机上进行了800℃的高温磨粒磨损试验。用扫描电镜及电子探针分析和测定了氧化、磨损面的形貌及其亚表层的组织及成分分布。试验表明,随含碳量增加,氧化过程由良性的外部氧化转向恶性的内部氧化,从而使合金的抗氧化性下降。合金中共晶碳化物（Cr,Fe）7C3在高温下有较高的硬度和稳定性,因此,合金含碳量的增加,提高了800℃时的抗磨性。在高温磨损过程中由于基体组织的变形而使碳化物折断。因此,基体抵抗变形的能力将对利用碳化物来提高合金的抗高温磨损性能起到重要的作用。     

Corrosion-Wear Resistance and Interfacial Morphologies of Novel Fe–Cr–B Cast Steels in Molten Aluminum

In order to improve the corrosion–wear resistance properties of steels in molten aluminum, novel Fe–Cr–B cast steels with different boron concentrations were prepared. The steels were investigated at 750 °C for 0.5 h using a ring-block corrosion–wear test, and the interfacial morphologies were examined. Results showed that the corrosion–wear resistance of the Fe–Cr–B cast steel was three times that of H13, and benefited greatly from the effects of the primary Cr-rich Fe₂B, which bore the main load during the corrosion–wear test. The corrosion–wear behavior of the coarse primary Cr-rich Fe₂B in molten aluminum was clearly different from that in static molten aluminum.     

Tribocorrosion of Diamond-Like Carbon Deposited on Ti6Al4V

Tribological and corrosion properties of Ti6Al4V alloy both bare and coated by diamond-like carbon (DLC) were investigated in PBS solution. The films obtained by a PACVD technique present high hardness, good corrosion and wear resistance and lower friction coefficient compared to bare alloy. Tribocorrosion tests on bare alloy showed that when wear stops, the alloy rapidly passivates. DLC films present superior wear resistance under dry conditions. However, film life is greatly reduced during tribocorrosion tests. An erratum to this article can be found at