Relationship among wear-resistance of three-body abrasion, substructure and property in martensite steels

The effects of subsurface hardness on wear-resistance of martensitic steel 20Cr, 40CrSi, 60Mn, T8 and T10 in three-body abrasion under static load was investigated. It shows that the characteristic of the subsurface hardness distribution and the abrasive wear resistance is related to the substructure near the worn surface. The substructure of the tested martensite steel has an apparent relationship with the carbon content and steels with moderate carbon content and hardness exhibit good resistance to abrasive wear. The competition of the work-hardening effect and the temper softening effect, which resulted from deformation and friction heat generating during abrasive wear is considered to be a main reason for the relation among wear-resistance, hardness and substructure. At the test conditions, the wear-resistance of 40CrSi is the best.