Running-in period for the abrasive wear of austenitic steels

The initial transient, or running-in, period during abrasive wear has been largely overlooked in the literature, with the focus instead being on steady-state conditions. However, the running-in period of abrasion might determine the evolution to steady-state wear behaviour, as is known to occur in sliding wear conditions. To this end, the running-in period during the abrasive wear of the austenitic stainless steel AISI 316L and Hadfield (15%Mn-1.5%C) steel was analysed through the testing pin (flat-ended)-abrasive paper wear configuration. The effects of the normal load, the size of the abrasive, and the type of material were evaluated, and the wear rate and the strain hardening of the matrix were recorded. The steady-state wear might be influenced by the phenomena occurring during the running-in period. Thus, the hardening, roughness, friction coefficient and wear micromechanisms were correlated with the wear rate to elucidate these possible relationships. •We evaluate the running-in period for the abrasive wear of austenitic steels.•Roughness increases as abrasive size increases and the opposite with normal load.•The strain hardening of the steels is strongly related to the wear coefficient.•ear micromechanisms showed a dependence on the wear transition regimes.•Transition from microcutting to microploughing occurred due to the strain hardening.