Dry Sliding Wear Behavior of a High-Mn Austenitic Twinning Induced Plasticity (TWIP) Steel Microalloyed with Ti

Abstract

ABSTRACTHigh-Mn austenitic twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steels are the object of intense worldwide scientific study due to the promising combination of strength and ductility of these alloys. Mechanical behavior of this family of new generation steels has been extensively studied recently. However, limited information regarding their tribological properties is available in the literature. The aim of this research work is to study the wear behavior of a high-Mn austenitic Fe–20Mn–1.5Si–1.5Al–0.4C TWIP steel microalloyed with Ti. The wear behavior was evaluated under dry sliding condition by the ‘‘pin-on-ring’’ method. For this purpose, solution-treated samples were worn for 10 km against a counterface disc made of hardened AISI M2 steel, under loads of 52, 103 and 154 N, and at speeds of 0.20, 0.60 and 0.86 m/s. The wear resistance was evaluated from the average wear rate. Wear debris and worn surfaces were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The Ti addition to TWIP steel slightly improved the wear resistance particularly at a speed of 0.86 m/s and at loads of 52 and 103 N. Results show that the wear resistance increases with increasing sliding speed. This is attributed to the formation of an oxide layer acting as a protective layer against wear, which suggests that the main wear mechanism for the studied TWIP steel under these conditions is oxidative.