Nanotribological behavior of deep cryogenically treated martensitic stainless steel

Abstract

Cryogenic treatments are increasingly used to improve the wear resistance of various steel alloys by means of transformation of retained austenite, deformation of virgin martensite and carbide refinement. In this work the nanotribological behavior and mechanical properties at the nano-scale of cryogenically and conventionally treated AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel were evaluated. Conventionally treated specimens were subjected to quenching and annealing, while the deep cryogenically treated samples were quenched, soaked in liquid nitrogen for 2 h and annealed. The elastic–plastic parameters of the materials were assessed by nanoindentation tests under displacement control, while the friction behavior and wear rate were evaluated by a nanoscratch testing methodology that it is used for the first time in steels. It was found that cryogenic treatments increased both hardness and elastic limit of a low-carbon martensitic stainless steel, while its tribological performance was enhanced marginally.

Quantification of the Dislocation Density, Size, and Volume Fraction of Precipitates in Deep Cryogenically Treated Martensitic Steels

“…Deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) is a sub-zero treatment where materials are exposed to temperatures below −125 • C with liquid nitrogen being the preferred cooling media [1]. Deep cryogenic treatment on martensitic steels is commercially carried out to improve wear resistance [2][3][4][5][6][7], and it has also been reported to affect other material properties such as hardness [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] and tensile strength [21][22][23]. There are some proposed mechanisms for these improvements in the literature.…”

Improvement of tribological behavior of H-13 steel by optimizing the cryogenic-treatment process using evolutionary algorithms

“…They are responsible for decreasing the friction and acts only marginally to decrease the wear coefficient [38].…”

Microstructure Evolution and Nanotribological Properties of Different Heat-Treated AISI 420 Stainless Steels after Proton Irradiation

“…There is a large existing body of work on the tribological and wear properties of AISI 420 stainless steel [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17]. Recently, D’Ans et al [8] studied the tribological and wear behaviors of the AISI 420/Fe 2 B surface layer by ball-disc tribological and wear tests.…”

“…Recently, D’Ans et al [8] studied the tribological and wear behaviors of the AISI 420/Fe 2 B surface layer by ball-disc tribological and wear tests. For cryogenically-treated AISI 420 steel, Prieto et al [9,10] performed frictional wear tests with grease lubrication and an argon atmosphere. They found that the wear resistance of the cryogenically-treated specimen was enhanced by ~30–90%, compared to that of the conventionally-treated specimen.…”