Superior wear resistance of dual-phased TiC–TiB2 ceramic nanoparticles reinforced carbon steels

Abstract

The present study investigated the microstructure and wear properties of annealed carbon steels with the addition of TiC–TiB2 ceramic nanoparticles. It was found that the presence of 0.02 wt% nanoparticles could decrease the amount of widmanstatten structure, promote the formation of finer pearlite from 33.0% to 46.3% and refine the grains from 67.0 μm to 47.5 μm. In ball-on-plate reciprocating sliding wear tests, the wear volume loss was reduced up to 27.2% while the test load of 50 N and sliding velocity of 60 mm/s were utilized. After examining the wear tracks, it was observed that the spalls, grooves, smearing, delamination, oxidative areas and wear debris were found within the worn areas. The ceramic nanoparticles increased the hardness of substrates, inhibited dislocations and plastic deformation, retarded the cracks on surfaces and sub-surfaces, and withstand the load which enhanced the anti-wear performance of annealed carbon steels. This research could provide a new method to improve the wear performance of carbon steel components.