Wear characteristics of plain carbon steel

Plain carbon steel of nearly eutectoid composition (0.86 wt% C) has been subjected to annealing, normalising and quenching followed by tempering treatment to attain different microstructures, viz. coarse pearlite, fine pearlite and tempered martensite. The dry sliding wear characteristics of these heat-treated samples have been studied on pin-on-disc type wear testing machine under different loads and at constant sliding velocity. Analysis of the wear test data along with SEM of wear debris and worn surfaces reveal that the wear resistance depends on the microstructure and the morphology of the phases. Coarse pearlite, fine pearlite and tempered martensite structure exhibit the wear resistance to be in decreasing order. Analysis of the wear debris indicates that oxidative and metallic wear mechanisms are involved under different test conditions employed in the present investigation.