Elevated temperature sliding wear behavior of WCP-reinforced ferrous matrix composites

WCP-reinforced ferrous matrix composites were processed by direct addition of WCP (100–150 lm) and the melt of the matrix alloy to a rotating mold at 1000 rpm. Dry sliding wear behaviors of the composites containing about 80 vol.% of WCP and high-speed steel counterpart were investigated at room temperature and 400 C against a rotating die steel ring. And wear experiments were performed under loads of 50, 100, and 150 N and a fixed sliding velocity of 30 m/s. Results show that at room temperature, both materials exhibited a marked increase in wear rate with load applied. Wear rates of the composites and high-speed steel under loads of 50, 100, and 150 N at room temperature achieved 1.61 9 10-6, 2.14 9 10-6, 3.56 9 10-6, and 3.11 9 10-6, 23.08 9 10-6, 57.39 9 10-6 g/m, respectively. At a testing temperature of 400 C, the composites exhibited a marked increase in wear rates and high-speed steel exhibited mild wear (characterized by extremely low wear rates) over the range of loads considered in these experiments. Wear rates of both the composites and highspeed steel at 400 C achieved 2.42 9 10-6, 5.19 9 10-6, 6.64 9 10-6, and 4.1 9 10-6, 8.92 9 10-6, 26.02 9 10-6 g/m, respectively, under different loads. Finally, the wear-mechanism was discussed in this article.