Investigation of retained austenite morphology-dominated hardening and
fatigue behavior in bainitic steel during wear process
Abstract
This study aims to revealing the relationship between retained austenite
(RA) morphology, deformation-induced transformation (DIPT) behavior and
surface wear behavior. The hardening and fatigue behavior during wear of
continuous film-like RA (CFRA), blocky RA (BRA), discontinuous film-like
RA (DFRA) and point or flocculent RA (PRA) achieved through different
tempering process was investigated using quasi-in-situ fatigue test and
impact abrasive wear test. RA morphology exhibited a significant
influence on hardening and fatigue behavior during wear. CFRA exhibited
the best wear properties, owing to its excellent fatigue performance and
hardening capacity. The BRA displayed relative high wear performance,
with adequate hardening capacity but weak fatigue performance. DFRA
demonstrated comparable wear resistance to BRA due to better fatigue
performance. PRA exhibited deficient wear performance due to
insufficient fatigue properties and low work hardening ability.