Three-body abrasion wear resistance of TiC-reinforced low-alloy abrasion-resistant martensitic steel under dry and wet sand conditions

Increasingly heavy workloads require components of construction machinery to have higher wear resistance, while the application of high-grade low-alloy wear-resistant steel in the machinery manufacturing industry is restricted greatly by its high hardness. Thus, it is of great significance to improve the wear resistance of low-alloy abrasion-resistant steels without increasing their hardness. A series of TiC-reinforced low-alloy abrasion-resistant steels with different hardness was developed by a conventional smelting-casting method. The microstructure of the TiC-reinforced steels was martensite, and micro- and nano-sized TiC particles were distributed in the martensite matrix. The three-body abrasive wear behaviors of a series of TiC-reinforced steels and conventional steels under dry and wet sand conditions were studied using dry and wet sand/rubber wheel testing machines, respectively. Under dry sand conditions, the main wear mechanism of TiC-reinforced steels was plastic deformation and fatigue spalling, and the wear resistance of the TiC-reinforced steels was more than 1.5 times that of conventional steels with the same hardness. Under wet sand conditions, the wear mechanism of TiC-reinforced steels was slight micro-cutting and peeling, the relative wear resistance of the TiC-reinforced steels was more than 1.4 times that of conventional steels. [Display omitted] •TiC-reinforced low-alloy abrasion-resistant steels were developed to improve wear resistance without increased hardness.•TiC-reinforced steels had more than 1.5 times the wear resistance of conventional steels under dry and wet sand conditions.•Under dry sand conditions, the wear mechanism changed from micro-cutting to plastic deformation and fatigue spalling.•Under wet sand conditions, the wear mechanism became slight micro-cutting and peeling owing to lubrication by water.