Friction and Wear Behavior of NM500 Wear-Resistant Steel in Different Environmental Media

Abstract

The study aims to investigate the influence of environmental media on the friction and wear behavior of low-alloy wear-resistant steels and to provide practical references for their application. This article conducted sliding wear tests on NM500 wear-resistant steel under different loads under air atmosphere, deionized water, and 3.5 wt% NaCl solution conditions. Someone quantitatively measured the friction coefficient and wear amount of each friction pair. The present study employed scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and a white light interference three-dimensional surface profiler to analyze the surface structure, cross-sectional morphology, element distribution, and wear mechanism of the wear scars under various experimental conditions. The results show that: In deionized water, NM500 has the best wear resistance, while the dry state is the worst. The lubricating and cooling effect of the liquid, as well as the corrosive effect of the NaCl solution, play an essential role in the wear behavior of NM500. Under dry friction conditions, the wear mechanism of NM500 is principally adhesive wear, fatigue wear, and oxidation wear. In the case of wear testing in deionized water, the researchers characterized the dominant wear mechanism as adhesive wear in conjunction with fatigue wear and abrasive wear. In contrast, when they carried out the wear testing in NaCl solution, the wear mechanism was primarily driven by corrosion wear and adhesive wear, with only a minor contribution from fatigue wear.