Abstract
This article presents an experimental study to investigate wear resistance of grey cast iron samples with different additions of copper from 0.00 to 3.15 wt%. A pin-on-disc apparatus was designed and built to conduct the experimental trials and assess the influence of wear time, rotational speed and normal load on wear behaviour. Experiments on wear time were from 5 to 20 min, rotational speed from 90 to 1400 r/min and applied pressure from 2.0 to 8.0 MPa, all in dry conditions. Results showed that morphology and microstructure are important parameters in relation to the wear regime exhibited by the material. It is confirmed that wear losses increased with increase in wear time, rotational speed and applied pressure. Also, it is clearly seen that adding copper to the cast iron changed the ferrite matrix into a pearlite matrix. This led to a significant improvement in the mechanical properties, especially wear resistance, with slight increase in the hardness. Generally, wear losses were quantified for cast iron with added copper; an increase in copper from 0.00 to 3.15 wt% reduced the material loss by about 30%.
Highlights
There is an ongoing and increasing demand for more robust materials with superior properties to fulfil the requirements of new engineering applications.[1,2] This in turn is associated with a need for new advanced testing methods to assess the performance of such materials.[3,4] Cast irons are an example of materials which, due to their superior wear resistance, have been utilized in a wide variety of mechanical systems for decades, for example, bearings, brakes and seals.[5]
Adding alloying elements or heat treatment to increase the hardness of the cast iron will in turn increase wear resistance beyond those of conventional grey cast irons.[10]
Hard and high-strength pearlite is a microstructural constituent of grey cast iron
Summary
There is an ongoing and increasing demand for more robust materials with superior properties to fulfil the requirements of new engineering applications.[1,2] This in turn is associated with a need for new advanced testing methods to assess the performance of such materials.[3,4] Cast irons are an example of materials which, due to their superior wear resistance, have been utilized in a wide variety of mechanical systems for decades, for example, bearings, brakes and seals.[5] The wear resistance of cast iron depends profoundly on the alloying elements it contains, the phases present and their microstructures.[6] The positive effect of alloying elements on the wear behaviour of cast irons was recognized very early,[7] but it was well known that some elements could negatively influence the ability of cast irons to resist wear.[8] In general, it is understood that wear decreases with the increased pearlite and graphite content.[9] Adding alloying elements or heat treatment to increase the hardness of the cast iron will in turn increase wear resistance beyond those of conventional grey cast irons.[10]
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