Tribocorrosion behaviour of low temperature plasma carburised 316L stainless steel in 0.5 M NaCl solution

Experiments have been carried out to study the tribocorrosion behaviour of low temperature plasma carburised 316L stainless steel under unidirectional sliding in 0.5 M NaCl solution, using a pin-on-disk tribometer integrated with a potentiostat for electrochemical control. It is found that the carburised layer exhibits much better resistance to material removal than the untreated specimen, particularly at anodic potentials. No corrosion pits are observed inside the wear track on the carburised specimen at anodic potentials as high as 750 mV (SCE). The results are discussed in terms of the relative contribution of wear and corrosion to overall material removal by tribocorrosion.

► The carburised layer offers good resistance to material removal by tribocorrosion. ► Carburising increases wear resistance of the steel by 8 times in the anodic region. ► The carburised layer has very good resistance to pitting corrosion during sliding. ► No corrosion pits are observed on the carburised specimen at 750 mV (SCE). ► At anodic potentials, corrosion dominates material loss from carburised specimen.