An energetic approach to abrasive wear of a martensitic stainless steel

Hardness and scratch tests were performed to examine the abrasive wear behavior of martensitic stainless steel. Aging at 485°C for 1 h increased the abrasion resistance of 17-4 quality stainless steel about 50% with respect to as-received condition, by increasing specific energy of both penetration and grinding stages. However, the increment in the specific energy of penetration stage was much lower than that of grinding stage. In an abrasion process, grinding stage was more effective than penetration stage in determining the energy consumption rate and therefore the wear resistance of the investigated stainless steel.