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Effect of Short-Term Low-Temperature Austempering on the Microstructure and Abrasive Wear of Medium-Carbon Low-Alloy Steel

Luo, Quanshun; Mei, Haijuan; Kitchen, Matthew; Gao, Yubi; Bowen, Leon

Effect of Short-Term Low-Temperature Austempering on the Microstructure and Abrasive Wear of Medium-Carbon Low-Alloy Steel Thumbnail


Authors

Quanshun Luo

Haijuan Mei

Matthew Kitchen

Yubi Gao

Leon Bowen leon.bowen@durham.ac.uk
Senior Manager (Electron Microscopy)



Abstract

Nano-bainitic steels have attracted great attention for good wear resistance. In this research, a medium-carbon low-alloyed steel was austempered at a low temperature close to its martensite-start temperature for various times to obtain mixed microstructure of nano-bainite, martensite and retained austenite. The austempered samples were characterised comprehensively by field-emission SEM and quantitative XRD. Its two-body abrasive wear property was evaluated by sliding on a SiC abrasive disc. The results revealed the formation of initial nano-width carbide-free bainitic ferrite (BF) after austempering by 10 min, whereas the BF size and amount both increased with the austempering time. The austempered samples exhibited wear coefficients lower than the quenched martensitic sample by up to 50%. SEM and TEM observations showed wear mechanisms of micro-cutting and ploughing deformation, including the formation of a nano-laminate top layer and bending deformation in the subsurface multiphase microstructure. The decreased wear loss was attributed to the role of retained austenite in the increased plasticity.

Citation

Luo, Q., Mei, H., Kitchen, M., Gao, Y., & Bowen, L. (2021). Effect of Short-Term Low-Temperature Austempering on the Microstructure and Abrasive Wear of Medium-Carbon Low-Alloy Steel. Metals and Materials International, 27(9), 3115-3131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12540-020-00957-6

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 20, 2020
Online Publication Date Apr 16, 2021
Publication Date 2021-09
Deposit Date Aug 12, 2021
Publicly Available Date Aug 12, 2021
Journal Metals and Materials International
Print ISSN 1598-9623
Electronic ISSN 2005-4149
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 27
Issue 9
Pages 3115-3131
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s12540-020-00957-6

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Advance online version This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.




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