Dry tribological properties of M50 bearing steel under different temperatures

Abstract

Reducing wear and clarifying relation mechanism are essential to improve the life of engine bearings, so we investigate the influence of ambient temperature on the friction characteristics of M50 steel self-matching pairs under dry friction conditions. As the ambient temperature increases from 30 °C to 500 °C, friction coefficient decreases sharply from 0.78 and tends to be stable around 0.4, while wear rate firstly decreases and then increases. High temperature (More than 300 °C) induces the serious oxidation and softening on the wear surface, causing the main wear mode from abrasive wear to adhesive wear. The oxides include mainly of Fe2O3 and Fe3O4, and minor MoO3 and Cr2O3, which are benefit for forming a continuous tribolayer on the wear surface, thereby improving the friction performance.