Analysis of sliding wear mode on annealed steel by X-ray diffraction technique

It is known that identifying the wear mode on worn surface is very important to improve the tribological performance of machinery or structural applications. In adhesive wear, unlike abrasive wear, the wear mode can be characterized by the amount of plastic deformation on the worn surface because wear occurs as a result of the shearing action around the adhesive area. Therefore, wear mode on actual worn surface must be related to the strain measured by X-ray diffraction on it. In this study, several sliding wear tests using the annealed plain carbon steel were carried out under several different sliding speeds in a pin-on-disc test. The plastic deformation on the worn surfaces was examined by the X-ray diffraction technique. The result of this study indicated that the state of strain on the worn surface measured by X-ray diffraction had a good relationship with the state of wear. The magnitude of strain on worn surfaces corresponds to the wear rate, and the increasing rates of strain with sliding distance correspond to the wear modes. It was also observed that the half-value width of the X-ray diffraction profile on worn surfaces Under steady state condition had a good correlation with the wear rate at the corresponding wear mode, regardless of the measuring direction. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.