Abrasion behavior of high Cr-V-Nb cast iron

A series of abrasion tests on high Cr-V-Nb cast irons revealed that the addition of MC type carbide formers, V and Nb, remarkably enhances the abrasion resistance of high Cr cast iron, and the abrasion resistance becomes higher with the increase in MC type carbides [1]. Therefore, hyper eutectic Fe-4.7%C-15%Cr-7%V-5%Nb-5%Mo alloy melt was poured into 30kg and 1kg sand mold castings to distribute different sizes of primary and eutectic carbides in hardenable matrix. The abrasion test specimens cut from each casting were austenitized at 1323K for 1h then cooled in air. These specimens were tempered at 773K for 1h followed by air cooling. The hardness of specimens was 1015-1018HV50. The rubber wheel abrasion test, a typical 3 body type one, was performed on these quenched and tempered specimens with 56-107, 107-150 and 297 μm dia. silica grit. The testing load was 86.3N and 172.5N, and the rubber wheel rotation speed was varied from 1s^-1 to 4s^-1. Though the higher testing load increases the wear loss, the wear rate expressed by the wear volume/(testing load × wear distance) changes depending on the wear condition and the microstructure. In case of 30kg cast specimen, the silica grit preferentially attack and scrape off the matrix, and the wear rate increases with the increase in the testing load. The fine carbides in 1kg cast specimens effectively protect the matrix from the attack of silica grit, and the wear rate decreases with increasing load which causes silica grit blunt and fracture. However, fine carbides tend to be fractured by silica grit and diminish the protective effect. Based on the worn surface structures, the abrasion mechanism is discussed comparing those of steel and eutectic 25%Cr cast iron.