Sliding Wear Behavior of AISI 52100 Steel with Pearlitic and Bainitic Microstructures

Dry sliding wear behavior of AISI 52100 steel that has a pearlite or bainite microstructure was characterized to explore the effect of microstructure on the wear of the steel. Isothermal heat treatments were employed to obtain the different microstructures. Pin-on-disk type wear tests of the steel disk were performed at loads of 25~125N in air against an alumina ball. Sliding speed and wear distance used were 0.1m/sec and 300m, respectively. Worn surfaces, wear debris and cross-sections of the worn surfaces were examined with SEM to investigate the wear mechanism of the steel. Hardness of the steel was also evaluated. Wear rate of the steel was correlated with the hardness and the microstructure. On the whole, wear resistance increased with an increase in hardness. However, the pearlite microstructure showed superior wear resistance as compared to the bainite microstructure with a similar hardness. The effect of the microstructure on the wear rate was attributed to the morphological differences of the carbide in the microstructure, which was found to have a significant effect on strain hardening during the wear.