Wear Behavior of Duplex Stainless Steels Sintered and Forged Under Partial Vacuum Atmosphere

DSS has a mixture of ferritic and austenitic stainless steel employed in different industrial branches owing to combined mechanical and corrosion properties. DSSs utilization is increasing year after year in the automotive and offshore industries. The main objective of this research is to produce Duplex Stainless Steels through powder metallurgy. In this investigation, two DSSs namely DSS A and DSS B were prepared using pre-alloyed powders such as 310L and 430L together with the addition of elemental powders of chromium, nickel, and molybdenum in correct proportions to obtain the required DSS composition. The powder particles are blended in a pot mill for 12 h to obtain a homogeneous distribution of alloying elements. Using a Universal testing machine, DSS with 15 mm radius and 10 mm thickness was compacted at 550 MPa. After compaction powder preforms were sintered at 1350 °C in a partial vacuum and hydrogen atmospheres. Sintered compacts were forged at 1150 °C and quenched in water. Wear tests were performed using full factorial experiments (L16) and analyzed using Taguchi’s Signal to Noise ratio analysis. Forged DSS B sintered under partial vacuum exhibited wear rate of 0.014 mm3/mm for 20 N loading condition. ANOVA reveals that material has a contribution of 18% towards wear rate, closely followed by a condition.