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The Impact of Retained Austenite Characteristics on the Two-Body Abrasive Wear Behavior of Ultrahigh Strength Bainitic Steels

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Abstract

In the current study, a high-carbon, high-alloy steel (0.79 pct C, 1.5 pct Si, 1.98 pct Mn, 0.98 pct Cr, 0.24 pct Mo, 1.06 pct Al, and 1.58 pct Co in wt pct) was subjected to an isothermal bainitic transformation at a temperature range of 473 K to 623 K (200 °C to 350 °C), resulting in different fully bainitic microstructures consisting of bainitic ferrite and retained austenite. With a decrease in the transformation temperature, the microstructure was significantly refined from ~300 nm at 623 K (350 °C) to less than 60 nm at 473 K (200 °C), forming nanostructured bainitic microstructure. In addition, the morphology of retained austenite was progressively altered from film + blocky to an exclusive film morphology with a decrease in the temperature. This resulted in an enhanced wear resistance in nanobainitic microstructures formed at low transformation temperature, e.g., 473 K (200 °C). Meanwhile, it gradually deteriorated with an increase in the phase transformation temperature. This was mostly attributed to the retained austenite characteristics (i.e., thin film vs blocky), which significantly altered their mechanical stability. The presence of blocky retained austenite at high transformation temperature, e.g., 623 K (350 °C) resulted in an early onset of TRIPing phenomenon during abrasion. This led to the formation of coarse martensite with irregular morphology, which is more vulnerable to crack initiation and propagation than that of martensite formed from the thin film austenite, e.g., 473 K (200 °C). This resulted in a pronounced material loss for the fully bainitic microstructures transformed at high temperature, e.g., 623 K (350 °C), leading to distinct sub-surface layer and friction coefficient curve characteristics. A comparison of the abrasive behavior of the fully bainitic microstructure formed at 623 K (350 °C) and fully pearlitic microstructure demonstrated a detrimental effect of blocky retained austenite with low mechanical stability on the two-body abrasion.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Australian Research Council (FL0992361) for their financial support. The microstructural characterization was carried out with the help of the Deakin Advanced Characterization Facility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, 3216, Australia

    Balaji Narayanaswamy (Research Student), Peter Hodgson (Deputy Vice Chancellor), Ilana Timokhina (Senior Research Fellow) & Hossein Beladi (Senior Research Fellow)

  2. Office of DVC (Research), Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Peter Hodgson (Deputy Vice Chancellor)

Authors
  1. Balaji Narayanaswamy
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  2. Peter Hodgson
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  3. Ilana Timokhina
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  4. Hossein Beladi
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Correspondence to Balaji Narayanaswamy.

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Manuscript submitted March 24, 2016.

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Narayanaswamy, B., Hodgson, P., Timokhina, I. et al. The Impact of Retained Austenite Characteristics on the Two-Body Abrasive Wear Behavior of Ultrahigh Strength Bainitic Steels. Metall Mater Trans A 47, 4883–4895 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-016-3690-5

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