EFFECT OF MACHINING FLUID LIKE QUENCHING MEDIA ON THE FRICTION AND WEAR BEHAVIOR OF AISI 1045 STEEL

The hardening of medium carbon steel is commonly reached through the quenching heat treatment. In this treatment are used different substances like quenching media to improve high mechanical properties and wear resistance. In this work, quenching treatments were conducted to study the effect of the water and machining fluid in mixtures like quenching media on the coefficient of friction, the mass loss, the hardness and microstructural behavior at the AISI 1045 steel. The quenching treatments were heated at 850 C in an electric furnace, and sustained 40 minutes, until to achieve a homogeneous structure. The quenching media used were water, 90% water–10% machining fluid, 70% water-30% machining fluid and 60% water–40 % machining fluid mixtures. The results indicated that all quenched samples reduced the coefficient of friction in comparison with steel in commercial condition (without hardening). Likewise, the quenching using water favored to obtain high mass loss (wear) in the samples. The way of reduce both the coefficient of friction and mass loss, was to realize the tempered after quenching process. However, the use of the 60% water–40% machining fluid mixture allowed to obtain values of coefficient of friction and the mass loss at the same level that those obtained after of tempered treatment, indicating the possibility of skip this treatment