The effect of impact conditions on the wear and deformation behavior of wear resistant steels

The deformation and wear behavior of four high strength wear resistant steels were studied in various impact conditions to evaluate their performance in applications involving heavy impacts and impact–abrasion. In the normal direction impacts, the studies were conducted with single and repeated (multiple) drop tests. To better simulate the actual application conditions, the samples were positioned at an angle relative to the impact direction in the tests with the high velocity particle impactor (HVPI) device. The effect of strain rate was investigated using constant size projectiles made from materials with different density but keeping the impact energy constant by varying the incident projectile velocity. The effect of surface hardening on the wear resistance of the high strength steels was determined by impacting the same surface area multiple times at a constant velocity using spherical high velocity projectiles. Regardless of the rather similar hardness of the studied three martensitic steel grades, the impact behavior showed differences in wear rate and damage mechanisms in each case due to the microstructural characteristics of the materials. The adiabatic shear bands forming in the martensitic steels at higher loading rates were found to increase the wear rate. Moreover, the carbide reinforced steel performed in general better than the martensitic grades but showed more brittle behavior and generation of crack networks that can affect the wear performance of the material. •Deformation and wear behavior of high strength steels depends on the impact conditions.•Microstructural features affect the impact behavior more than the initial hardness.•Adiabatic shear bands increase the impact wear of auto-tempered martensitic steels.