WEAR RESISTANCE AND WEAR MECHANISM OF A HOT DIP ALUMINIZED STEEL IN SLIDING WEAR TEST

Sliding wear experiments were conducted on a hot dip aluminized steel to investigate its wear resistance and wear mechanism. The wear tests were also carried out on a hot dip galvanized steel and the base material (steel Q345) as a comparison. Results show that the wear resistance and hardness of the hot dip aluminized steel are significantly higher than that of the hot dip galvanized steel and the steel Q345 at room temperature. The better wear resistance of the hot dip aluminized steel attributes mainly to the formation of a transition layer containing abundant Fe–Al intermetallic compounds and the transformation of wear-resisting oxides during the friction process. The main phase in the transition layer is Fe2Al5. The thickness of the transition layer is about 90–120 μm. When the wear load increases from 3 N to 19 N, the wear type of the aluminized layer transform from adhesive wear (3 N) into abrasive wear (7 N) and finally into slight wear mixed with oxidation (higher than 11 N).