Studies on wear behavior of nano-Y2O3 dispersed ferritic steel developed by mechanical alloying and hot isostatic pressing

Resistance to wear is an important factor in design and selection of structural components in motion and in contact with a mating surface. The present work deals with studies on fretting wear behavior of mechanically alloyed 1.0 wt.% nano-Y2O3 dispersed 71.0Fe–25.5Cr–2.0Al–0.5Ti (wt.%) ferritic steel consolidated by hot isostatic pressing at 600, 800 and 1000 °C under 1.2 GPa uniaxial pressure applied for 1 h. The wear experiments were carried out in gross slip fretting regime against 6 mm diameter tungsten carbide ball at ambient temperature. The highest resistance to fretting wear has been observed in the alloy sintered at 1000 °C. The fretting involves localized plastic deformation and oxidation as evidenced by post wear surface profile and micro-compositional analysis, respectively.

Research highlights▶ This study is an attempt to develop a new generation of nano-Y2O3 dispersed in Fe–Cr ferritic steel by mechanical alloying and hot isostatic pressing. ▶ Consolidation of mechanically alloyed powder is a formidable challenge. ▶ Wear studies include fretting wear against tungsten carbide ball in order to understand the operative wear mechanism. ▶ The surface/bulk mechanical properties of the present alloy/composite are excellent.