The effects of Ti/Nb microalloying-induced MC-type carbide precipitation and tempered microstructure evolution on the dry-sliding wear behavior of low-carbon martensitic wear-resistant steels were systematically investigated. Three experimental steels with different microalloying strategies (0.04Ti, 0.1Ti, and 0.04Ti/Nb) were subjected to quenching and subsequent tempering. Microstructural features, carbide characteristics, and mechanical properties were characterized using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), tensile testing, and impact testing, while wear performance was evaluated by pin-on-disk tests under dry-sliding conditions. The results indicate that wear resistance is governed by the combined effects of tempered martensite stability and MC-type carbide precipitation. Low-temperature tempering effectively reduces the wear mass loss of Ti-containing steels by enhancing their resistance to abrasive shear deformation while maintaining sufficient toughness. In contrast, the Nb-containing steel exhibits a stage-dependent wear response associated with the formation and destabilization of oxide-derived third-body debris during sliding. (Nb,Ti)C precipitates act as microscale load-bearing units, contributing to strength enhancement and subsurface damage suppression, but their influence on wear behavior strongly depends on tempering temperature. The dominant wear mechanism is abrasive micro-cutting, accompanied by fatigue-induced spalling and oxidation-assisted damage at later stages. These results demonstrate that wear performance cannot be correlated with hardness alone, but instead requires the coordinated optimization of carbide precipitation and tempered microstructural stability. This work provides microstructural guidance for the design of microalloyed martensitic wear-resistant steels.
Wang et al. (2026) studied this question.