Early Stages of the Wear Behavior of AISI 440C Stainless Steel under Rolling Contact in Water

Abstract

In the present work, rolling contact fatigue (RCF) tests in water were performed on AISI 440C stainless steels under different loading. Each test was interrupted at 3.6×104, 7.2×104, 1.44×105, 2.16×105, 2.88×105 and 2.88×105 rotating cycles and the wear track at different stages was observed by using a 3D laser confocal microscope. The wear loss at 2100 N was a significantly higher compared to 500 N or 1000 N. The contact surface roughness in samples tested at 2100 N increased during the rolling contact and severe adhesion wear was present at the entire surface. In case of 500 and 1000 N tests, the surface roughness remained low with mild adhesion wear occurring. It is concluded that adhesion force levels are higher under high load rolling contact. They greatly influence the surface conditions and cause high wear loss.