Effect of original microstructure on wear property of ER9 wheel steel

Abstract

In this work, the influence of original microstructure on wear property of ER9 wheel steel is studied by GPM-40 rolling wear tester. The pearlite + proeutectoid ferrite (P+F) sample exhibits the lower wear loss than the tempered sorbite (TS) sample at different cycles. However, the TS sample has better fatigue wear resistance than the P+F sample. High wear loss and more uniform plastic deformation of the TS sample can inhibit the formation of fatigue wear cracks. During rolling-sliding wear process, for the P+F sample, the high surface hardness and the pearlite colonies/proeutectoid ferrite are the main reasons to cause the initiation of fatigue cracks. The formation of an interface of hardening layer causes the propagation of cracks easily. These factors lead to a large amount of fatigue wear cracks be formed at the P+F sample surface.