Improving the abrasion resistance of pearlitic steels by high-temperature hardening and cold treatment

The influence of high-temperature quenching and cold treatment on the amount of residual austenite, its stability and ability to deformation martensitic transformation, hardening and wear resistance during the abrasive wear of pearlite grade 150KhNML carbon steel is studied. It is shown that maximum wear resistance during abrasive wear is ensured by a structure consisting of metastable residual austenite and martensite. Such a microstructure is created by high-temperature hardening before testing: during operations, austenite on the working surface, as a result of abrasive particles, turns into dispersed and nanocrystalline martensite with a high level of frictional hardening. This also results in the operability of the secondary steel microstructure due to the micro-TRIP effect. An additional means for increasing abrasion resistance is cold treatment after high-temperature hardening, which provides an increase in carbon martensite cooling before testing for wear resistance and the formation of new portions of carbon martensite deformation during testing. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.