Aging Temperature Effects on the Wear and Corrosion Properties of Stainless Steel Alloy Custom 450

This article aims to investigate aging temperature effects on the wear and corrosion characteristics of stainless steel alloy Custom 450. Electrochemical measurements were performed in 1 M H2SO4 solution. Pin-on-disk tests and microstructural evaluations were also done. The results displayed that the steel hardness increased when the aging temperature was raised to 500 degrees C. However, higher temperatures resulted in a hardness reduction of about 11% compared with annealed specimens. Such observation was due to the increase in the reversed austenite content by up to 10.7%. The aged specimen's wear rate was reduced by about 85% when the aging temperature was 500 degrees C, based on the high hardness. The suggested wear mechanism changed from abrasive and cutting wear mode to the adhesive wear mechanism when the aging temperature increased. Tafel polarization tests showed that corrosion rates of specimens decreased by about 99% when the aging temperature increased to 600 degrees C. This was attributed to increasing the amount of the reversed austenite phase, and Ni-rich precipitates in the aged martensite matrix.