Wear Behavior of a Modified Low Alloy as Cast Hardening White Iron

This work analyses the wear behavior of a modified white cast iron (MWCI) with moderate chemical composition using 1.77Ni, 1.42Cr, 0.26Mo and 1.59Cu in comparison to a conventional white cast iron (CWCI). The wear test has been carried out for alloys in the as cast condition using a pin-on-disc test in the loads of 80, 100, 120 and 140 N. Microstructural characterization, hardness, frictional coefficient and the total weight loss have been assessed in each alloy. For a low load of 80 N, the total weight loss of MWCI (0.5 mg) is much less than that of CWCI (1.3 mg). The total weight loss has been increased to 2.8 mg for MWCI, while it is still less than that of CWCI (~3.7 mg) with increasing the load to 140 N. Investigation shows that the wear resistance of the specimens is strongly depended on the hardness derived from their microstructures. More plastic deformation and detachment of the tribolayers are observed on the surfaces with a lower hardness. The wear rate of specimens has been increased with increasing the load especially in the specimens with lower hardness. It has been found that the specimen with a higher hardness shows a lower frictional coefficient under the range of applied loading.