Study of Surface Wear and Damage Induced by Dry Sliding of Tempered AISI 4140 Steel against Hardened AISI 1055 Steel

In industry, the sliding mechanical systems are subject to friction and wear phenomena. These phenomena can be the origin of a reduction of the efficiency of the mechanical system even to be responsible for its incapacity. Generally, the materials of the parts which are moving relative (tribological couple) of these systems are low alloy steels and carbon steels, thanks to their good mechanical and tribological properties. The present work aimed to study, the surface wear and damage induced by dry sliding of hard carbon steel AISI 1055 (disc) against tempered low alloy steel AISI 4140 (pin) with different hardness and applied loads was investigated. The results revealed that the interaction between the applied load and pin hardness result in complex thermo-mechanical behaviour of the worn surfaces. When a lower hardness pin is used, the main wear mechanisms observed on the discs were abrasion, adhesion, and oxidation. When a higher hardness pin is used, the wear of the discs is governed by delamination, oxidation, and plastic deformation. In particular, third-body wear occurs at high applied load resulting in higher wear rate of high hardness pins compared to low hardness pins.