Reciprocating Sliding Wear Behavior of Inconel 600 Mated with SUS 304 Stainless Steel at Elevated Temperatures

Abstract

The sliding wear behavior of a steam generator in a nuclear power plant (Inconel 600) was investigated at 225, 250 and 300°C. Effects of wear parameters such as sliding distance and contact stress were examined with SUS 304 (austenitic). In the prediction of the wear volume by Archard wear equation, the standard error range was calculated to be ±0.53×10-9 m3 and the reliability to be 71.9 % for the combination of Inconel 600 and SUS 304. The error range was considered to be relatively broad because the wear coefficient in Archard equation was assumed to be constant. However, the wear volume turned out to increase parabolically with the sliding distance owing to the combination of strain hardening of the wear surface and the oxidative wear. Based on the experimental results, the wear coefficient was modified as a function of the rotating sliding distance. The calculation with the modified wear equation showed that, although the error range was not significantly narrowed, the reliability increased from 71.9 to 78.1 %.