Wear testing of high Fe-N-C steels

A series of iron alloys consisting of iron, nitrogen and carbon has been produced, characterized, and evaluated for mechanical and wear properties. The Fe-C-N alloys have no carbide or nitride precipitates and have a duplex phase fcc-bct microstructure. The high 0.9 wt.% carbon + (0.4-0.9 wt.%) nitrogen interstitial concentrations produced significantly higher strength, higher hardness and much improved abrasive wear (scratch, pin-on-drum, pin-on-disk) resistance over that of the starting bcc phase iron alloy with 0.9 wt.% carbon and carbide precipitates. Results from compression, indent hardness, and scratch wear tests were analyzed using similar data reduction. This new data analysis technique resulted in an improved and coherent understanding of abrasive scratch wear process, which was directly related to the alloy's mechanical properties.