An Experimental Investigation of Martensitic Stainless Steel in Aircraft and Aerospace Industry for Thermal Wear Performance and Corrosion Potential

Abstract

Abstract Martensitic stainless steels are commonly prefered in industries requiring high mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, and hardness. The dry sliding wear behavior of 15-5 precipitation-hardenable (PH) martensitic stainless steel was investigated in a heat chamber with ball-on-disc tribometer under room temperature (RT), 100 °C, 200 °C, and 300 °C. The wear tracks were characterized using SEM, EDS, WCM and XRD. The results showed that wear resistance improved proportionally with increasing temperature and increased surface hardness enabled coefficient of friction to decrease. Corrosion rate decreased with increasing temperature owing to natural passivation film on stainless steel specimens. In comparison with RT and 300 °C tests, hardness increased from 341 HV0.1 to 401 HV0.1 and wear rate lowered by 94 %. It was shown that application and operation of 15-5 PH stainless steels is eligible in aircraft and aerospace industry.