Effect of normal load on abrasive wear resistance and wear micromechanisms in FeMnAlC alloy and other austenitic steels

Abstract Little attention has been paid to the role of stacking fault energy (SFE) in the two-body abrasive wear of austenitic steels. Using a pin-abrasion test with 220 grit garnet paper as the counterbody, three austenitic steels of different SFEs were compared. The steels were: (i) FeMnAlC, (ii) Hadfield steel, and (iii) AISI 316 L steel. Following a pre-conditioning procedure, the normal loads on the 3 mm diameter test pins were 5 N, 10 N and 15 N, and the sliding speed along a spiral track of total length 430 m was 0.158 m/s. Data showed that the FeMnAlC steel had a higher wear resistance than AISI 316 L steel but lower wear resistance than the Hadfield steel. However, at the highest test load, all three steels had similar wear resistance. The steel with the lowest SFE had the highest abrasive wear resistance and the steel with the highest SFE had the lowest abrasive wear resistance. The main wear mechanisms were microcutting and microploughing. There was a transition from microploughing to microcutting as the normal load was increased.