Influence of the countermaterial on the dry sliding friction and wear behaviour of low temperature carburized AISI316L steel

Low temperature carburising (LTC) allows a significant hardness increase, with a consequent increase in wear resistance, without deteriorating corrosion behaviour. However, wear resistance strongly depends on contact conditions, therefore this work focuses on the dry sliding behaviour of LTC-treated AISI316L austenitic stainless steel against several countermaterials (AISI316L, LTC-treated AISI316L, hard chromium or plasma-sprayed Al2O3-TiO2). LTC produced a hardened surface layer (C-supersaturated expanded austenite), which improved corrosion resistance in NaCl 3.5% and increased wear resistance, to an extent which depends on both normal load and countermaterial. The best results were obtained when at least one of the contacting bodies was LTC-treated, because this condition led to mild tribo-oxidative wear. However, LTC did not improve the behaviour in terms of friction.