The Effect of Types of Scale on Sliding Wear of Iron Based Alloy at room and Elevated Temperature

Various iron based alloys forms different types of protective scales such as Fe₃O₄, Cr₂O₃, Al₂O₄ etc. on exposure to corrosive environment depending on alloys composition. The mechanical properties and adhesion characteristics of these scales depend on pliability, thickness and hardness of these scales. These properties in turn govern the nature of mechanical degradation of the investigated steel. Thus, the objective of present study is to investigate the influence of nature of scale forms during sliding on the friction coefficient and wear rate of various iron based materials at ambient and elevated temperature. Towards that purpose three iron based materials namely martensitic steel, 440C stainless steel having martensitic matrix and aluminum containing steel that forms Al₂O₃ scale are subjected to degradation under sliding at ambient and elevated temperature. The preliminary study indicates that friction coefficient is the minimum for Cr₂O₃ scale forming stainless steel at different loads. In contrast, Al₂O₃ forming steel exhibits the minimum wear rate at all loads. This trend can be observed at room and at elevated temperature. In general wear rate is comparable irrespective of counter-body. The details of observations will be presented and discussed.