Study on the Relationship between Microstructural Change in Friction-Induced Deformation Layer and Friction Behavior of Austenitic Stainless Steel

Friction and wear behaviors of 304 metastable austenitic stainless steel (MASS) pin against DC53 disc were studied using a German SST-ST disc-on-pin tester in this paper. The tests were performed under 200, 300 and 400 N with constant sliding speed 0.2m/s. SEM, 3D profiler and XRD were employed to observe the wear morphology, detect the martensitic transformation and analyze the microstructure change of 304 MASS. The relationship between microstructural change in friction-induced deformation layer and friction behaviors of MASS was discussed. Results showed that lots of friction-induced martensite was transformed from austenite in the deformation layer of pin specimen, which volume fraction decreased with the increase of distance away from the frictional surface. Results also showed that the friction behavior of 304 MASS was influenced by phase transformation and microstructural change in the deformation layer of 304 MASS. These conclusions are significant to guiding the process design during pressing.