Dependence of Slurry Erosion and Wear Behaviors on Mechanical Properties and Microstructures in a High-Cr Super Martensitic Stainless Steel

The effects of microstructures and mechanical properties on slurry erosion and three-body wear of a super martensite stainless steel (0Cr13Ni5Mo) are investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mechanical property tests, and wear tests. Different types of microstructures are prepared such as quenched martensite and tempered martensite with or without reversed austenite. Reversed austenite forms in the samples tempered at 600 °C, while austenite is minimal in samples tempered at 500 °C, 700 °C, and in quenched samples. The quenched martensite exhibits the highest hardness and strength; however, it has the lowest ductility and impact toughness among all the microstructures, whereas the samples tempered at 600 °C possess the highest ductility and impact toughness, and the lowest hardness and strength. The best erosion resistance is exhibited by the samples 500 °C, owing to their favorable combination of mechanical properties. The quenched martensite shows the highest three-body wear resistance owing to its highest hardness and strength. The samples tempered at 600 °C exhibit the lowest erosion resistance and three-body wear resistance because of the soft reversed austenite, low dislocation density, and recovery of martensite. The failure mechanisms for abrasive three-body wear and erosion wear are demonstrated in this study.