INFLUENCE OF ARTILLERY WEAPON BARREL SUPERHEAT ON ABRASION WEAR RESISTANCE OF MATERIAL

This paper studies the influence of the artillery weapon barrel superheat on abrasion wear resistance of material. The firing process has a compound mechanical, thermal and chemical effect on the barrel. Many wear mechanisms exist in the barrel in firing conditions: abrasion, adhesion, fatigue and tribocorrosion. This paper presents the procedure and the results of abrasion wear experiment. Some test samples were previously tempered and air cooled. The abrasion test samples were made of the heat treated steel 42CrMo4. Wear resistance is represented by the sample mass loss during the wear process. The test results show that unheated samples exhibit higher wear resistance in comparison with heated samples. A significant material wear increase of 43% is shown in the samples which were heated at 900 degrees C. Conclusively, the test results show that excessive fire causes the weapon barrel to superheat and the material wear resistance to significantly decrease.