Wear Property and Wear Mechanisms of High-Manganese Austenitic Hadfield Steel in Dry Reciprocal Sliding

This paper reports the sliding wear properties and wear mechanisms of Hadfield high-Mn austenitic steel in a dry-sliding reciprocal tribotest against a WC counterpart. The associated wear mechanisms were studied through extensive characterisation of the obtained worn surface using analytical SEM, TEM, XRD and micro-hardness test. The tribotest revealed a coefficient of wear in the scale of 10⁻¹⁴ m³·N⁻¹·m⁻¹ and a coefficient of friction of 0.5–0.6. The steel encountered severe plastic deformation beneath the worn surface leading to a gradient of hardness profile, including the extreme hardening of the worn surface up to HV_0.1 8.2 GPa. Despite the severe deformation and significant strain hardening, the steel still retained its austenitic structure without any detectable martensite. The combined surface and cross-sectional microscopic observations and extensive analysis of XRD peak breadth revealed the formation of nano-heterogeneous microstructure including nano-laminate, nanotwins and nanocrystalline beneath the worn surface. Spalling wear was found as the predominant wear mechanism. The spalling wear was caused by the embrittlement of the extremely hardened and nanocrystallised worn surface. Tribo-oxidation was also observed in the resultant wear debris.