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

doi:10.1016/S0301-679X(03)00058-6

Tribology International

Volume 36, Issue 10, October 2003, Pages 765-770

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-679X(03)00058-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

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.

Introduction

High speed steels are highly alloyed and used in many applications where high wear resistance is needed [1]. These steels could be considered as being a composite material where large primary carbides (1 … 10 μm in diameter) are dispersed in a martensitic matrix containing a much finer dispersion of small secondary carbides ( $< 100$ nm in diameter). The secondary carbides provide precipitation hardening of the martensitic matrix. The primary carbides, mainly MC and M₆C-types, are harder than the matrix (1500 … 2800 HV) and they enhance the abrasive wear resistance of steels containing a high fraction of these carbides [2].

Abrasive wear takes place when particles, which are harder than the tool material, are involved. These particles can typically be carbides or oxides (e.g. when cutting steel) or highly strain-hardened fragments (e.g. wear debris generated during deep-drawing). For the characterisation of the abrasion resistance of tool materials on the laboratory scale, a test method where small samples can be used is highly attractive [3]. The ball cratering method is widely used to study abrasive wear resistance of e.g. tool steels and hard coatings. Abrasive wear coefficients of steels, determined in ball cratering test, as given in the literature vary in a relative wide range (i.e., $0.24 × 10^{-13}$ m²/N for an AISI 1020 mild carbon steel against diamond paste [4], $9.4 × 10^{-13}$ m²/N for an AISI H13 hot work steel [5] and $9.71 × 10^{-13}$ or $11.5 × 10^{-13}$ m²/N for AISI M2 or M3 high speed steels, respectively [6], the latter three tested against SiC). This scattering in the abrasive wear coefficients should be related to the interaction of multiphase microstructures (i.e. ferrite/perlite in the case of the carbon steel, martensite/primary carbides in the case of high speed steels) of the steels with different abrasives and to the concentration of the slurry.

Therefore, the intention of this work was to elucidate the role of the primary carbides in determining the abrasion resistance of high speed steels. To characterizing the influence of the primary carbides on the abrasion resistance, different abrasives, i.e. SiC, Al₂O₃ and ZrO₂ were used in a ball cratering test.

Section snippets

Experimental details

The ball cratering method (CSEM CaloWear) has been used to determine the abrasive wear resistance of the different high speed steels investigated. There, a 100Cr6 steel sphere (Ø 25.4 mm) is rotating against a high speed steel sample ( $Ø 30 × 10$ mm) in the presence of an aqueous suspension of abrasive particles. The hardness of the 100Cr6 steel sphere was measured to 65 HRC and the rms-roughness was about 64 nm. The diameter of the resulting wear crater was determined as a function of the

Results and discussion

The microstructure of the three different high speed steels investigated in this study is shown in Fig. 2a–c. All steels have been produced by powder metallurgical techniques which offer a more homogeneous microstructure compared to conventional molten steels. Steel 1 is an HS10-2-5-8 type which shows fine primary carbides uniformly distributed in the martensitic matrix (Fig. 2a). The chemical composition of this steel corresponds to 10.5 at.-% W, 2.0 at.-% Mo, 5.0 at.-% V, 8.0 at.-% Co, 4.8

Conclusions

Within this work, ball cratering tests with different abrasives were performed on high speed steels to elucidate the interaction between the microstructure of the samples and the abrasive medium. The results obtained show a good correlation between particle hardness and abrasive wear. Highest abrasive wear was found for SiC abrasives, where in addition to the martensitic matrix also the primary carbides are worn by the harder abrasive particles. Thus, no significant differences in abrasive wear

Acknowledgements

Financial support of this work by the Technologie Impulse G.m.b.H. in the frame of the K-plus competence center program is highly acknowledged. The authors are also grateful to Gerhard Hawranek for performing the SEM investigations, to Dr. Stefan Marsoner for providing information on the microstructure of the steels investigated and to Dipl.-Ing. Gerardo Fontalvo for helpful discussions. Böhler Edelstahl GmbH & Co KG, Kapfenberg, Austria, is highly appreciated for supplying the steel samples.

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

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Experimental details

Results and discussion

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Surf Coat Technol

Tribology Int

Surf Coat Technol

Wear

Wear

Tribology Int

Wear and microstructural studies of alloy sintered steels

Mater Sci Technol

Application of ball cratering method to study abrasive wear

Surf Engineering