EFFECT OF THERMOMECHANICAL PROCESSING ON WEAR BEHAVIOUR OF PLAIN - CARBON STEEL

Abstract

Plain carbon steels are the most common varieties of steels. These are cheap and weldable. They are found in almost all the applications which desire good strength and ductility. As they exhibit pearlite and ferrite structures which are ductile, show very good performance as piping materials. This form of steel is commonly subjected to solid particle erosion when used in under water applications. The objective of this study is to analyze the erosion behavior of plain carbon (0.24%C, 0.7%Mn) steel before and after applying thermo-mechanical cycles subjected at temperatures - just above and below Ar3, at different strain rates and different cooling media. 18 different samples are made by processing at 700°C and 750°C with O.0ls, O.1s 1 , 1s' and cooled in air. water and controlled (50CIs) environments using thermo mechanical simulator Gleeble® 3800. Microstructures are studied using optical microscope. These processed samples are subjected to solid particle impingement wear test using slurry pot erosion tester for 24 hours using silica sand of 320-210.tm sized particles. The wear characteristic curves are studied and the scanning electron microscopy images of specimens are analyzed. All the processed samples have shown improvement in slurry erosion resistance compared to as received samples after 24 hours. Sample processed at 700°C with strain rate of - 0. 1 s 1 and air cooled has shown improvement in wear resistance of around five times as compared to as-received samples after 24 hours. Therefore thermo mechanical processing has significantly contributed for improvement in wear resistance of the selected steel material. Keywords: plain carbon steel, thermomechanical processing, slurry erosion.