Effect of multi-directional forging and annealing on abrasive wear behavior in a medium carbon low alloy steel

A medium carbon low alloy steel was processed by multi-directional forging (MF) and annealing. Microstructural evolution is studied by optical and electron microscopy and abrasive wear resistance is researched. After MF, the microstructure was refined. The tensile strength and hardness increased obviously, while the ductility decreased sharply. MF resulted in the improvement of abrasive wear resistance. Without compromising the tensile strength and hardness much, the ductility was improved significantly after subsequent controlled annealing. Higher ductility led to abrasive wear resistance for further improvement. Higher hardness, ductility and work hardening degree were found to be responsible for higher abrasive wear resistance of ultrafine-grained (UFG) medium carbon low alloy steel.