| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 617625 | Wear | 2013 | 13 Pages |
Austenitic stainless steels are prone to galling and seizure in sliding contacts and display poor resistance to corrosion-wear. The purpose of this paper was to discover if the surface engineering of austenitic stainless steel via the application of Cr based hard coatings can alleviate this problem. Corrosion-wear tests using an aluminium oxide ball (pin) to slide against coated and uncoated AISI 316L in 0.9% NaCl solution under a normal force ∼1 N revealed degradation, under open circuit potential conditions, to be dominated by mechanically antagonized corrosion (Type I corrosion-wear) for all the test materials. A minor contribution to degradation was caused through superficial plastic deformation (micro-asperity shearing) of the contact surfaces took place but this was due to running-in and would have ceased after a short time once the asperities were flattened. It was accidentally discovered that pre-oxidation of the coated 316L steels, via vacuum heat treatment, resulted in an important and major improvement in corrosion-wear resistance.
► The aqueous corrosion-wear resistance of Fe–Cr–Ni coatings was tested. ► Some coatings were in the form of supersaturated solid solutions. ► Other coatings contained partially and completely transformed sigma phase. ► Type I corrosion-wear was the predominant material loss mechanism. ► Pre-oxidation caused a MAJOR improvement in the corrosion-wear resistance.
