Projektinitiativ #109: Tribo-mechanical Response of Austenitic Stainless Steels to Low Temperature C
Austenitic stainless steels possess excellent resistance to corrosion and environmental degradation due to outstanding passivation ability. However, low hardness and poor wear resistances have limited their tribological applications. Carburizing has long been widely used to improve the hardness and tribological properties of many types of metallic materials in industrial applications. However, the conventional thermochemical treatments are not suitable for austenitic stainless steel because it is usually carried out at high temperatures between ~ 850 and 950°C. Owing to the rapid precipitation of chromium carbides, chromium in solid solution depletes, impairing significantly the corrosion resistance which is considered as the major advantages of stainless steels.
The development of the metastable austenite supersaturated with C, i.e. the so-called “expanded austenite” or “S-phase” in austenitic stainless steels by low temperature processes opened the possibilities to challenge this technical issue. This phase is precipitate free with C solubility several orders of magnitude larger than the equilibrium one. It provides an excellent combination of mechanical and corrosion properties. When carbon is present in solid solution, our potentiodynamic tests in diluted H2SO4 solution revealed improved corrosion resistance of the alloys. We have also observed significant enhancement of surface hardness which is typically 3‒4 times larger than that of untreated materials in 304 and 904L. It is expected that wear resistance of the selected austenitic stainless steels can be significantly enhanced through this treatment. The aim of this study is to investigate the tribo-mechanical response of selected austenitic stainless steels to low temperature carburizing (Kolsterising) in both dry and wet sliding conditions.
We intend to clarify the relationship between microstructure and tribo-mechnical property of the above mentioned carburized stainless steels. The related phenomena taken place during the wear process such as surface morphology and chemistry, redistribution of the interstitials, tribological interaction with the environment, wear mode will be studied by means of a combination of different techniques. We expect to extend the applicability of stainless steel for tribological applications in chemical, food and automotive industries, medical and pharmaceutical equipment. The goal is to meet the increasing demand for high performance and durable components.
Namn Yu Cao
Organisation Chalmers Tekniska Högskolan