Effect of microstructure on mechanical properties and abrasive wear behavior of low carbon dual-phase steels

Abstract

The mechanical properties and wear behavior of Dual Phase (DP) steels have been investigated and compared with those observed in normalized (N) steel that has the same chemical composition. The DP steels having different content and morphology of martensite were produced by varying intercritical annealing temperature and initial microstructures. Mechanical properties of four different DP steels and N steel have been investigated by carrying out tensile and macrohardness tests. Dry sliding wear tests have been conducted on four different the DP steels and the N steel using pin-on-plate to investigate their wear characteristics. It has been found that the yield and tensile strengths and macrohardness increase with increasing martensite content and decreasing martensite size. The yield and tensile strengths and macrohardness of the N steel were significantly lower than the DP steels whereas percentage of total elongation was higher. Wear properties are improved by increasing martensite volume fraction and size in the DP steels. The N steel specimen showed the highest wear rate.