Comparison of the Impact Wear Performances of Quenching and Partitioning and Quenching and Tempering Steels

Abstract

A low‐carbon, high‐strength steel is treated by different quenching and partitioning (QP) and quenching and tempering (QT) routes in a salt bath furnace, and its wear performance is evaluated by impact abrasive wear tests. It is observed as compared with the traditional QT steel; the QP steel manifests better wear performance at the quenching temperature of 220 °C. Stable film‐like retained austenite (RA) and fine martensite laths improve the wear resistance of the QP steel at the quenching temperature of 220 °C, whereas unstable blocky RA formed in the QP steel at the quenching temperature of 190 °C decrease the wear resistance. In addition, the lower critical impact stress for crack initiation at the higher impact energy decreases the wear resistance; however, the relative wear resistance is improved greatly at the higher impact energy due to the better fracture toughness of the QP steel. Moreover, the correlation of wear loss, hardness, and KIC is modeled to compare the wear resistances of the test steel after different heat treatments.