A systematic approach to design against wear for Powder Metallurgy (PM) steel parts: The case of dry rolling–sliding wear

Aim of this work is proposing a systematic design approach for wear resistant components produced by Powder Metallurgy (PM). Wear is a cause of failure for many industrial PM parts. Gears and cams, for example, are subjected to rolling and rolling–sliding wear, dry or lubricated depending on the applications. The design criteria are mostly empirical, thus resulting fully conservative, sometimes excessively conservative. A need for defining design criteria for wear resistant PM parts is thus revealed, to exploit at best the specific characteristics of both technology and materials. The focus is on the case of components subject to dry wear. Particularly, this work analyses the parameters affecting dry rolling–sliding wear of PM steel parts. Dry rolling–sliding tests were performed on different PM steels, wear mechanisms were investigated and materials were characterized to obtain the knowledge base for the proposed design methodology. A diagram indicating the main steps for the design of wear resistant PM parts is described and applied. This approach can also be applied to other wear mechanisms found in PM steel parts.