Abrasive Wear Properties of Fe-Based Alloys Designed for Mining Applications

The purpose of this study was to determine experimentally the wear properties of 5 groups of iron-based alloys used in the mining and transport machines exposed to the action of a hard abrasive material. The groups of materials to be examined included austempered ductile irons (ADI), steels and cast steel designed for quenching and tempering and for surface hardening, hard-wearing hardened steels and structural steels. The wear tests were carried out on a disc-on-disc test rig. The test samples were examined under conditions of sliding mating, while the leading destructive process was microcutting of the surface with loose corundum grain. The loss of mass of the examined samples was measured as a parameter characterizing the wear. Base on it, other wear coefficients were determined, for example the volume loss, the intensity of wear and the wear rate. The volume loss values determined were presented as a function of the strength and the initial hardness. Based on the results obtained, it was found that the hardened steel and ADI had comparable wear properties, while the ADI surface was strengthened probably as a result of the transition of austenite into martensite and the impact of the deformation of the graphite contained in ADI on the abrasive wear of the surface