Influence of sliding direction changes, contact frequency and Bauschinger effect on the wear of dual phase steels

•Steel discs have been studied under uni- and bi-directional ball-on-disc tests.•Coefficient of friction and wear rate were higher under unidirectional sliding.•Bauschinger effect takes place during the bidirectional sliding wear test.•Bauschinger effect is influenced by both sliding speed and contact frequency.

Friction and wear rate behaviour of dual phase steel discs (DP600) have been studied as a function of sliding speed (0.5–1.25 m/s) and contact frequency (3.5–8.5 Hz) under unidirectional and bidirectional (reversal motion) ball-on-disc dry sliding wear tests. The wear rate is found to be higher under unidirectional sliding. The Bauschinger effect – BE-appears to take place during the bidirectional sliding processes. However, it is only evident when the sliding direction is reversed for some limited times, where the mass loss decreases accompanied a weakened strain-hardening effect. Moreover, the BE in the DP600 steel discs is also affected by both the sliding speed and the contact frequency, but its effect is clearly different.