Effect of solution treatment on slurry erosive wear performance of martensitic and nitrogen strengthened austenitic stainless steel

Abstract The present study shows jet-type slurry erosion behavior of 21-4N Nitronic and CA6NM martensitic steels. These steels were solution treated by the general procedure to improve their erosion performance. Microhardness was measured before and after erosion tests to study the effect of strain hardening. It was found that the strain hardening ability of the Nitronic steel is much higher than the martensitic steel. The cumulative weight loss was found lower for solution-treated Nitronic steel and comparatively higher for as-received CA6NM steel. The fractured surfaces were studied with SEM and found that the material loss was mainly due to fracture and deformation of the hard phases.