Wear of Thermochemically Produced Nitrogen Stainless Steel

Thermochemically produced stainless steels with varying nitrogen content were slid dry on high carbon martensitic steel counterfaces using a pin bush machine. The running-in wear was high but the steady state wear decreased with increased nitrogen contents of the steels. A work hardened layer formed on the pins, the degree of hardening increasing with the nitrogen content of the steels. The hard pins caused a considerable amount of wear of the bushes, possibly, by ploughing. The pins wore by transfer and oxidation and, by interfacial shear and, probably, brittle fracture of the work hardened layer at a heavy load.