Abrasive wear resistance of spheroidal vanadium carbide cast irons

The effect of the chemical composition and heat treatment on the microstructure and abrasive wear resistance of V-Mn, V-Ni-Cr, and V-Mo spheroidal vanadium carbide cast irons (18–23 vol %) has been studied. The wear resistance has been determined under conditions of wear by abrasives with various hardnesses, i.e., corundum and quartz and compared to that of high-chromium cast iron with 13% Cr. It has been found that the advisability of using high-vanadium cast irons is governed by the hardness of the abrasive. When a hard abrasive, i.e., corundum was used, V-Mo cast iron with the maximum concentration of spheroidal VC carbides, which were uniformly distributed in the martensitic matrix, had the highest wear resistance. When a soft abrasive, i.e., quartz, was applied, high-chromium cast iron with a hardness of 68 HRC, which contained the largest amount of M₇C₃ carbides, was more wear-resistant. In the course of isothermal exposure at 300–1000°C, V-Ni-Cr and V-Mo cast irons with an austenitic structure had high resistance to phase and structural transformations. However, the properties and microstructure of V-Mo cast irons with a martensitic matrix depended strongly on the temperature of exposure during heat treatment.     

Wear mechanism and chemical composition optimization of complex-alloyed cast iron with spheroidal vanadium carbide under conditions of abrasive erosion

Using full factorial design in experiment 3², the contents of vanadium and chromium in heattreated V–Cr–Mn–Ni cast irons with spheroidal vanadium carbide have been optimized with regard to the conditions of quartz sand erosion. It has been found that, in the case of bulk quenching from 760°C (or in combination with a subsequent plasma surface hardening), the maximum wear resistance of cast iron is achieved at 5.0% V and 2.0–4.5% Cr and, in the case of bulk quenching from 840°C followed by cryogenic treatment (–196°C), at 5.0% V and 7.0–9.0% Cr. It has been shown that the wear mechanism of the investigated alloys consists of the repeated deformation (indentation) of the matrix accompanied with spalling of spheroidal carbides and with chipping of eutectic carbides. Spheroidal vanadium carbides provide an effective protection of dendrites regions against erosion due to their uniform distribution in the bulk of the alloys.     

Effect of structural features on erosion resistance of cast irons

Erosion resistance of four types of cast iron of different microstructures and graphite morphologies (viz., grey cast iron, compacted graphite iron, spheroidal graphite iron and austempered ductile iron) was evaluated in three different erosive media. Results indicate that austempered ductile iron has the highest erosion resistance in all three media, followed by spheroidal graphite iron, compacted graphite iron and grey cast iron, in that order. Graphite morphology has a significant effect on the erosion resistance of these irons in quartz-water and iron oxide-oil slurry. However, the matrix microstructure determines the erosion resistance of these irons in quartz-oil slurry. The parameter H/E (which is the ratio of the Brinell hardness number to Young's modulus of the material) has been found to be a good indicator of erosive wear in quartz-oil slurry.     

Influence of graphite nodules on the particles erosion of spheroidal graphite cast irons

The influence of graphite nodules on the normal angle erosion of the spheroidal graphite cast irons with four different matrices, namely ferrite, upper bainite, lower bainite and martensite, was investigated. The results indicate that, in the range investigated (10-15 area pet), graphite nodules (with variations in area percent and size) did not exert any influence in the irons with ferrite or upper bainite matrix. However, in the case of the spheroidal graphite cast iron with martensitic matrix, both increasing area percent and decreasing diameter of graphite nodules did in fact raise the erosion rate; moreover, those cast in metal molds consistently experienced higher erosion rate than those cast in sand molds. For the irons with a lower bainite matrix, increasing the amount of graphite nodules raises the erosion rate for those cast in sand molds, but did not affect the erosion rate for those cast in metal molds; furthermore, the erosion rate of the sanded-molded irons was consistently higher than their metal molded counterparts. The different roles of graphite nodules on the erosion rates of the spheroidal graphite cast irons are discussed.     

Effects of single-pass laser heat treatment on erosion behavior of cast irons

A single-pass laser heat treatment was performed on the surfaces of pearlitic gray and ductile cast irons using a 5 kW continuous wave CO₂ gas laser. Surface-hardened layers affect solid particle impingement erosion in that, for given abrasive flow conditions, the erosion rate of laser-treated gray iron was five times greater than that of untreated gray iron while the erosion rate of laser-treated ductile iron was 25 times greater than that of untreated ductile iron. The erosion mechanisms of gray iron included micromachining and ploughing in the untreated condition and intergranular cracking in the laser-treated condition. In contrast, ductile iron was eroded by severe plastic deformation and tearing in the untreated condition and by the fatigue mechanism in the laser-treated condition.     

Investigating the effects of microstructure on the wear mechanisms in lamellar cast irons via microscratch tests

This work investigates the effects of microstructure on the wear mechanisms in lamellar cast irons using a microscratch test. Various applied loads and indenter geometries were utilised. The results indicate that the surface damage depends on the indenter geometry, the penetration depth, the orientation and the depth of the graphite flakes. Increasing the applied load and the attack angle increases the friction coefficient, the tangential force and its fluctuation. Beyond a certain load, the friction coefficient remains nearly constant. The proposed schemes explain the role played by both the matrix and graphite in the wear process.     

Optimisation of electron-beam surface hardening of cast iron for high wear resistance using the Taguchi method

The paper presents the application of the Taguchi method to develop an optimised electron-beam surface hardening of cast iron for high wear resistance. The experiments were conducted on both the ductile and grey cast iron. The factors investigated during the surface-hardened process included the material matrix, the accelerating voltage, the electrical current, the travel velocity, the melted width, the beam oscillation, and the post-heat treatment temperature. In this study, the L18 and L9 orthogonal arrays were introduced through the two-stage experimental designs and trials. Smaller-is-better was used as a quality characteristic to evaluate the experimental results by computing their signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios of the wear volume after wear tests.It was found that using the Taguchi method coupled with a two-round experimental design strategy is simple, effective and efficient in developing an optimised EB surface hardening process. The experimental results show that the most important process parameters identified are the accelerating voltage, the travel speed, the electrical current and post-heat treatment, respectively. The best wear resistance result obtained through the best combination of process parameters is 8.845×10⁸ kg-mm/mm³.     

Effects of heat treatment on the erosion behavior of austempered ductile irons

The normal-angle erosion behavior of austempered ductile irons has been studied under various heat treatment parameters, including time and temperature for both austenitization and austempering process. The results indicate that the erosion rate was in generally positively related to hardness and tensile strength, and inversely proportional to percentage elongation and mechanical energy density. Un-dissolved ferrite during austenization appears to be the most erosion resistant phase. For ADI with complete austenization, the microstructure obtained inside the process window was more erosion resistant than otherwise. At different austempering temperatures, higher temperature tends to be more erosion resistant, since more ductile austenite present in the microstructure.     

Effect of carbide volume fraction on erosive wear behaviour of hardfacing cast irons

The present work reports the effect of carbide volume fraction on erosive wear behaviour of hardfacing cast irons. Five different grades of weld hardfacing cast irons were selected for the present investigation. The solid particle erosion experiments were carried out with blast furnace sinter, silica sand and alumina particles under mild (53–75 μm, 25 m s⁻¹), moderately severe (125–150 μm/100–150 μm, 50 m s⁻¹) and under severe erosion conditions (300–425 μm, 90 m s⁻¹) at impingement angles of 30 and 90°. The variation in erosion rate with carbide volume fraction was observed to be strong function of the erodent particle hardness, impingement angle and the impact velocity. Under mild erosion conditions, erosion rate decreased with increasing carbide volume fraction (CVF), whereas erosion rate increased with CVF under moderately severe erosion condition with alumina particles. With silica sand particles under moderately severe erosion conditions the beneficial effect of large volume fraction of carbides could only be observed at 30°, whereas at normal impact erosion rate increased with increasing CVF. The erosion rate showed power law relationship with ratio of hardness of erodent particle to that of the target material (H_e/H_t) and expressed as E=c(H_e/H_t)^p.With increasing severity of erosion conditions erosion rate showed stronger dependence on H_e/H_t as compared to those under mild and moderately severe erosion conditions. The mechanism of materials removal from the carbides involved Hertzian fracture with softer sinter particles, whereas harder alumina particles could plastically indent and cause gross fracture of the carbides.     

Impact of plasma hardening on the wear resistance of 38XC steel

The impact of plasma hardening on the wear resistance of 38XC steel was studied. It has been found that the wear resistance increases by 53.7 times under the condition of dry friction compared to the normalized state and by 12.7 times compared to the improved state. During plasma hardening, the wear of 38XC steel under dry friction is equal to the normalized steel 15 with lubrication; and the wear is not increased in case of a 1.5-fold increase in the load. The addition of HADO revitalizant to oil contributed to an approximately twofold decrease in the wear of 38XC steel with plasma hardening during wearing-in after cutting off the lubricant.     

The influence of surface oxidation on the wear resistance of cast iron

This paper reports a study of the influence of surface oxidation on the wear resistance of ductile iron, grey iron and vermicular iron during dry sliding friction. The mechanisms of wear are also reported. This study shows that the effect of surface oxidation (formed under normal atmospheric conditions) on the wear rate depends on the complex functions of graphite morphology and matrix structure. Generally the presence of surface oxidation decreases the wear rate of grey iron but increases the wear rate of ductile iron and vermicular iron when the cast iron has high hardness. This trend is reversed for low hardness cast iron.     

Comparative research on wear characteristics of spheroidal graphite cast iron and carbon steel

Wear characteristics of a spheroidal graphite cast iron and a carbon steel were studied under atmospheric conditions at 25–400 °C. The spheroidal graphite cast iron presented obviously different wear behaviors from the carbon steel, which may be attributed to the presence of graphite. With an increase of ambient temperature, tribo-oxides of carbon steel substantially increased and its substrate softened, thus severe wear, oxidative mild wear, oxidative wear and extrusive wear took turns to prevail. However, compared with carbon steel in the same case, tribo-oxides were markedly reduced in the spheroidal graphite cast iron, thus oxidative mild wear and oxidative wear did not appear due to the lack of oxides. It is suggested that less tribo-oxides in the spheroidal graphite cast iron may be attributed to the reduction of graphite to tribo-oxides during sliding.     

Effect of heat treatment conditions and composition on the wear resistance of some chromium steels

Effect of tempering and austenitizing temperatures on the abrasive wear resistance of chromium cast steel balls containing 1 to 12% Cr has been studied. Wet and dry wear tests were carried out. The optimum tempering temperature was found to be about 180°C. Higher austenitizing temperatures were bettwer for obtaining greater wear resistance, which could be improved by increasing the chromium content. This effect was more marked at lower chromium contents. Factorial analysis of experiments showed that the effects of austenitizing temperature, tempering temperature and chromium content were significant with 95% confidence. The wet wear resistance of the investigated steel depended on their microstructure and chemical composition rather than their normal corrosion resistance     

Solidification and abrasion wear of white cast irons alloyed with 20% carbide forming elements

Three different white cast irons with compositions of Fe–3%C–10%Cr–5%Mo–5%W (alloy no. 1), Fe–3%C–10%V–5%Mo–5%W (alloy no. 2) and Fe–3.5%C–17%Cr–3%V (alloy no. 3) were prepared in order to study their solidification and abrasion wear behaviors. Melts were super-heated to 1873 K in a high frequency induction furnace, and poured at 1823 K into Y-block pepset molds. The solidification sequence of these alloys was investigated. The solidification structures of the specimens were found to consist of austenite dendrite (γ); (γ+M₇C₃) eutectic and (γ+M₆C) eutectic in the alloy no. 1; proeutectic MC; austenite dendrite (γ); (γ+MC) eutectic and (γ+M₂C) eutectic in the alloy no. 2, and proeutectic M₇C₃ and (γ+M₇C₃) eutectic in the alloy no. 3, respectively.

A scratching type abrasion test was carried out in the states of as-cast (AS), homogenized (AH), air-hardened (AHF) and tempered (AHFT) using the abrasive paper with 120 mesh SiC and 10 N application load. In all the specimens, the abrasion wear loss was found to decrease in the order of AH, AS, AHFT and AHF states. Abrasion wear loss was lowest in the specimen no. 2 and highest in the specimen no. 1 except for the as-cast and homogenized states in which the specimen no. 3 showed the highest abrasion wear loss. The lowest abrasion wear loss of the specimen no. 2 could be attributed to the fact that it contained proeutectic MC carbide, eutectic MC and M₂C carbides having extremely high hardness. The matrix of each specimen was fully pearlitic in the as-cast state but it was transformed by heat-treatments to martensite, tempered martensite and austenite. From these results, it becomes clear that MC carbide is a significant phase to improve the abrasion wear resistance of white cast iron.     

Influence of abrasive hardness on the wear resistance of high chromium irons

The resistance to abrasive wear was determined for a series of alloyed white cast irons in a high stress abrasion test which utilizes a specimen in sliding contact with bonded abrasives. These were conducted on silicon carbide, alumina and two sizes of garnet abrasive.The results indicate that the hardness, or type, of abrasive used in the test significantly influenced the wear rate of white irons, i.e. the rate of wear increased with increasing hardness of the abrasive. Also, the results indicate that the type of abrasive used in the test was a significant factor in ranking white irons for resistance to high stress abrasion. When tested on silicon carbide or alumina abrasive, as-cast austenitic irons exhibited lower rates of wear than heat treated martensitic irons; when tested on garnet, an abrasive of lower hardness, those irons with martensitic matrix microstructures exhibited the same or less wear than irons with austenitic matrix microstructures. It was also evident that heat treated irons with martensitic matrix microstructures exhibited varying degrees of resistance to abrasive wear depending on cooling rates and alloy content.     

Study on relative wear resistance and wear stability of high-speed steel with high vanadium content

In this work, a new concept of wear stability was put forward by authors, and it was quantitatively expressed by factor of wear stability. Different hardness, impact toughness and retained austenite content high-speed steel with high vanadium content samples were obtained by varying heat treatment conditions. The effects of hardness, impact toughness and retained austenite content on relatively wear resistance and wear stability were studied under abrasive wear condition. Results show that relative wear resistance increases with increasing hardness or decreasing impact toughness, whereas the wear stability rises with the increasing of hardness or impact toughness. The analyzing results reveal that mechanical behaviors are only apparent factors to influence wear behaviors. Relative wear resistance substantially depends on retained austenite content (Ar). At retained austenite content of about 30 vol.%, the relative wear resistance is optimal. However, wear stability is scarcely influenced by retained austenite content, which depends on the maximum changing amount of retained austenite under certain condition (ΔAr) in essence. With increasing ΔAr, wear stability linearly decreases.     

Effect of microstructure and mechanical properties on the seizure resistance of cast aluminium alloys

Seizure resistance of several cast aluminium base alloys has been examined using a standard Hohman Wear Tester. Disks of aluminium base alloys were run against a standard aluminium 12% silicon base alloy. The seizure resistance of the alloys (as measured by the lowest bearing parameter reached before seizure) increased with hardness, yield and tensile strength. In Al-Si-Ni alloys where silicon and nickel have little solid solubility in α-aluminium and Si and Ni Al₃ hard phases are formed, the minimum bearing parameter decreased with the parameter V (The product of vol. % of hard phases in the disk and the shoe). Apparently the silicon and NiAl₃ particles provided discontinuities in the matrix and reduced the probability (1 ? V) of the α-aluminium phase in the disk coming into contact with the α-aluminium phase in the shoe. The copper and magnesium containing Al-Si-Ni alloys with lesser volumes of hard phases exhibit considerably better seizure resistance indicating that a slight increase in the solute content or the hardness of the primary α-phase leads to a considerable increase in seizure resistance. Deformation during wear and seizure leads to fragmentation of the original hard particles into considerably smaller particles uniformly dispersed in the deformed α-aluminium matrix.     

Comparison of the sliding wear process of various cast irons in the laser-surface-melted and as-cast forms

The sliding wear characteristics of cast irons having a range of compositions and initial graphite forms have been determined in both as-cast and laser-surface-melted conditions using a pin-on-ring test configuration. Observed differences in equilibrium wear behaviour between the as-cast alloys were principally in the mild-to-severe transition load and the nature of the severe wear process. Such effects are interpreted in terms of the mean interparticle spacing of graphite in the microstructure which determines the relative propensity for subsurface crack propagation during wear. The ledeburitic structures produced by laser surface melting of the cast iron substrates acted to stabilize a regime of mild equilibrium wear with substantially lower wear rates than for the mild oxidative wear of the as-cast microstructures. Metallographic observations of the laser-melted layer have identified a wear process consisting of fine polishing abrasion.     

激光处理对人牙釉质酸蚀和耐磨性能的影响

以人牙釉质为研究对象,对牙釉质表面进行激光处理,对激光处理前后牙釉质的表面形貌、力学性能和耐磨性能进行分析,旨在探索激光处理对牙齿酸蚀的抑制和修复作用,为激光在牙齿酸蚀抑制方面的临床应用提供理论指导。结果表明,原始牙釉质表面和酸蚀牙釉质表面经激光处理后,其表面硬度均显著提高、抗酸蚀能力增强;但是,激光处理会导致牙釉质表面变得粗糙,出现大量裂纹和孔洞,牙齿表面的弹性模量降低,表面脆性增大,从而使得牙齿耐磨性显著降低,造成的损伤重于酸蚀。     

Abrasive wear of high speed steels: Influence of abrasive particles and primary carbides on wear resistance

A ball cratering test has been used to investigate the abrasive wear of high speed steels with different volume fraction and size of primary carbides. Three different abrasives, SiC, Al₂O₃ and ZrO₂ were used. Wear mechanisms were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A good correlation between the hardness of the abrasives and the abrasive wear coefficient was found. Higher abrasive wear resistance was determined for steels containing coarser primary carbides compared to those without or with smaller carbides. The most pronounced difference in abrasive wear resistance was found for Al₂O₃ abrasives. This indicates that in ball cratering the abrasive medium has to be chosen properly, i.e. with a hardness adjusted to those of both primary carbides and martensitic matrix, to obtain results suitable to rank high speed steels with respect to abrasion resistance.