Abrasive Wear Performance of Spherical Hierarchical Structured TiC/High-Manganese Steel Composites

The abrasive wear performance of TiC particle-reinforced high-manganese steel matrix composites with a spherical hierarchical structure under moderate impact energy was investigated. In the composites, TiC particles (10 mu m in diameter) were concentrated within discrete spherical composite regions with diameters of about 100 mu m. Impact abrasive wear tests were conducted to evaluate the wear performance of the composites with different volume fractions (30%, 40%, and 50%) of TiC particles compared with the matrix and a uniformly distributed TiC particle composite. The applied impact energy was 3 J. The results show that the hierarchical composite with 40% TiC particles exhibits the best wear resistance, with the wear rate reduced by 43.5% and 75.4% compared to the matrix steel and the uniformly distributed composite, respectively. The primary wear mechanism of the hierarchical composite is abrasive cutting. The design of the hierarchical configuration significantly enhances the material's toughness, reducing fatigue spalling in the composite region during wear, thereby improving its wear resistance.