Epsilon carbide precipitation and wear behaviour of low alloy wear resistant steels

Abstract

In this study, we obtained different morphology and size of epsilon carbides (ϵ-carbides) via low temperature tempering of 0.32 wt-% C low alloy wear resistance steel. The objective is to elucidate the determining role of size and morphology of carbides on mechanical properties and three-body impact wear resistance. The formation of small needle-like ϵ-carbides was responsible for increase in yield strength, low temperature impact toughness and three-body impact wear resistance. However, when the ϵ-carbides were large and rod-like, hardness, toughness and three-body impact wear resistance were significantly reduced. The wear mechanism of steel containing needle-like ϵ-carbides primarily involved plastic deformation associated with fatigue and small degree of abrasive wear and furrow, while steels containing rod-like ϵ-carbides were predominantly characterised by furrow.

Keywords:

• Martensitic steel
• Epsilon carbides
• Mechanical property
• Three-body impact abrasive wear

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China No. 51234002 and 51504064. RDKM gratefully acknowledges support from University of Texas at El Paso, USA.