Tribocorrosion behaviours of AISI 310 and AISI 316 austenitic stainless steels in 3.5% NaCl solution

• The tribocorrosion behaviours of AISI 310 and 316 steels were investigated.
• The combine effect of wear and corrosion on the sliding contact was studied.
• Correlation between COF and current density was discussed.

In this paper the tribocorrosion behaviours of AISI 310 and AISI 316 stainless steels have been studied under reciprocating sliding condition in 3.5% NaCl solution, using a pin-on-disk tribometer integrated with a potentiostat for electrochemical control. Different sliding loads were used at a constant rotational speed of 60 rpm. The results show that sliding load has significant effect on the tribocorrosion behaviour of both materials. Corrosion attack was severe at sliding load conditions in both materials suggesting corrosion-induced wear as the dominant of the two synergistic components. However, at low sliding load, anodic dissolution and pit formation in AISI 316 was accelerated by sliding action causing wear-induced corrosion to be dominant.