Three-body abrasive wear behaviour of metastable spheroidal carbide cast irons with different chromium contents

The effect of heat treatment and chromium contents (up to 9.1 wt.%) on the wear resistance of spheroidal carbide cast iron (9.5 wt.% V) was studied using optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, dilatometry and three-body abrasive testing. It was found that quenching from 760 °C and 920 °C improved the alloys’ wear resistance compared to the as-cast state due to the formation of metastable austenite transforming into martensite under abrasion. The wear characteristics of alloys studied are 1.6 – 2.3 times higher than that of reference cast iron (12 wt.% V) having stable austenitic matrix. Chromium addition decreases surface damage due to the formation of M 7C3 carbides, while it reduces wear resistance owing to austenite stabilization to abrasion-induced martensite transformation. The superposition of these factors results in decreasing the alloys’ wear behaviour with chromium content increase.