Experimental investigation on wear characteristics of sintered Fe-C-Cr low alloy steels

Abstract

Wear is a common property exhibited when two materials rub against each other. The present research work aims to investigate the influence of chromium (Cr) on wear characteristics of powder metallurgy (P/M) plain carbon steel (Fe-0.5%C) and to find optimal parameters for minimum wear loss and frictional coefficient of the P/M alloy steels. The sintered-forged plain carbon steel and with addition of 1% and 2%Cr P/M alloy steels were made into cylindrical pins to conduct wear tests as per the standard. The Design Expert (DE) software was used for conducting the dry sliding wear tests. Addition of Cr reduces the mass loss due to the formation of chromium carbides embedded in the ferrite grain matrix in the microstructure. The optimum working parameters found for the minimum mass loss and coefficient of friction from the Taguchi-grey relational analysis are 50 N load and 113.5 rpm speed irrespective of the alloy steels.