Effect of the third body layer formed at different temperature on fretting wear behavior of 316 stainless steel in the composite fretting motion of slip and impact

316 SS is a commonly used material for steam generator tube. The object of this investigation is to study the influence of temperature, which is 95 degrees C and 250 degrees C, on the formation of the third body layer (TBL), and the role of TBL on the fretting wear behavior of 316 SS. Thus, the fretting wear experiment between 316 SS tube and 316 SS plate was carried out in the composite fretting motion of slip and impact in pure water environment. The experiment time was set as 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 120 h. The results show that at 95 degrees C, TBL is hard and attaches closely to the surface, which can lead to uniform abrasion and result severe microploughing between the base materials. While at 250 degrees C, the existence of thick TBL can avoid direct contact between base materials, and it can be easily deformed by shear forces due to its ductility, which acts as a lubricant and reducing volume loss and wear coefficient. Finally, we can conclude that temperature affects the formation mechanism and properties of TBL, thus changing the fretting wear behavior.