Influence of Load, Surface Finish and Lubrication on Friction Coefficient of AISI 304 Stainless Steel

DARÍO ALÍ; JOSEFINA DIB; NORA PELLEGRI; SILVINA HEREÑÚ

JOURNAL OF MATERIALS ENGINEERING AND PERFORMANCE

SPRINGER

Año: 2020 vol. 29 p. 2739 - 2747

1059-9495

The present work aims to evaluate the friction and wear behavior of a metastable stainless steel AISI 304Lagainst steel AISI 52100 ball. Friction tests using the ??ball-on-disc?? technique at constant velocity (0.03 m/s) and different loads (6 N, 15 N) with and without lubricant (liquid vaseline) were carried out. Two surfacefinishing conditions were considered, leading to different mixture phases of preexisting austenite andmartensite in the steel. One set of samples was polished to induce martensite (PO), and another set wastested in the as-received (AR) condition. Special emphasis was placed on correlating the friction and wearbehavior with microstructural analysis performed by x-ray diffraction, optical, scanning electron andtransmission electron microscopy. To complete the analysis, the microhardness profile was also performedfor both PO and AR samples. The PO samples showed higher microhardness and greater amount ofinduced martensite and work hardening in the surface in comparison with AR samples. Independentlyof applied load and initial surface condition, two different stages on the friction behavior can be identifiedin dry tests. On the contrary, a stable behavior is observed in lubricated tests. Moreover, whereas inlubricated tests wear behavior is independent of surface finishing conditions and load, it shows a pronounced influence with load in dry tests.