Influence of chromium carbide coating on tribological performance of steel

In this work, the tribological behavior of hardened, tufftrited and chromium carbide coated AISI 52100 steel balls against hardened and chromium carbide coated AISI D2 steel discs have been studied under 1, 2 and 5 N loads. Chromium carbide coating was performed by pack method. In this method, AISI 52100 steel sample was coated in the powder mixture consisting of ferro-chromium, ammonium chloride and alumina. Tufftriting treatment was performed in the commercial salt bath. The wear test was carried out with ball-on-disc configuration system. Test conditions covered 0.125 m/s speed and 1, 2 and 5 N loads. The wear rate of hardened, tufftrited and chromium carbide coated balls versus hardened AISI D2 steel disc were changing between 1.8 × 10−6–7.7 × 10−6, 4.7 × 10−7–2.5 × 10−6 and 1.3 × 10−7–1.0 × 10−6 mm3/m, respectively. The wear rate of hardened, tufftrited and chromium carbide coated balls versus chromium carbide coated AISI D2 steel disc were changing between 3.1 × 10−6–8.0 × 10−6, 2.0 × 10−6–5.9 × 10−6 and 1.8 × 10−7–4.3 × 10−7 mm3/m, respectively. Moreover, the wear rates of coated and uncoated steel showed more sensitivity to the applied load against the counter discs.