Effect of TiC particles on three-body abrasive wear behaviour of low alloy abrasion-resistant steel

摘要

Low alloy abrasion resistant steel is an indispensable material used in the machinery manufacturing industry. In order to further improve its wear performance without increasing its hardness, a series of low alloy wear resistant steel reinforced with TiC particles was developed. The microstructures were characterized by SEM and TEM. The three-body abrasive wear behaviour of experimental steels has been studied using dry sand rubber wheel testing machine under different applied loads, abrasive particles, and rubber wheel rotation speeds. The results showed that the microstructure of the TiC-reinforced low alloy abrasion-resistant steel consisted of a martensite matrix and nano- and micro-sized TiC particles. Although the TiC particles consumed the C element in the matrix, thus reducing the hardness and strength of the experimental steels, the wear resistance did not decrease. The wear resistance of TiC-particle-reinforced steels was proportional to the density of the TiC particles. Furthermore, the worn surface morphology indicated that the abrasive wear mechanism of TiC-reinforced experimental steels was mainly plastic deformation, fracture, and fatigue, which is different from the micro-cutting observed in traditional low alloy abrasion-resistant steel. The different wear mechanism will aid in improving the wear performance of the steels.