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Formation of Wear-Protective Tribofilms on Different Steel Surfaces During Lubricated Sliding

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Abstract

We report here the impact of different alloying elements in steels on friction and wear behavior by performing ball-on-flat lubricated reciprocating tribotesting experiments on 52100 ball on steel flats with different compositions (52100, 1045, A2, D2, M2, and a specialty Cu-alloyed steel) heat-treated to give similar hardness and microstructure, with polyalphaolefin (PAO-4) as the lubricant. There are small variations of coefficient of friction among these alloys. The major observation is that steels containing high concentrations (≥ 10 wt%) of Cr, Mo, and V gave rise to markedly reduced wear compared with 52100 or plain carbon steels. D2 steel, which contains 11.5 wt% Cr as the major alloying element was the most wear-resistant. The wear resistance is strongly correlated with the efficiency of formation of carbon-containing oligomeric films at specimen surfaces as determined by Raman spectroscopy. This correlation holds for steels heat-treated to have higher hardness and with n-dodecane, a much less viscous lubricant compared with PAO-4. Given the strong affinity of chromium to oxygen, chromium should exist as Cr2O3 at the steel surfaces during testing. We have performed molecular dynamics simulation on Cr2O3 and demonstrated its ability to catalyze the formation of carbon-containing oligomeric films from hydrocarbon molecules, consistent with its known catalytic activity in other hydrocarbon reactions. We believe that chromium-containing alloys, such as D2, and coatings, such as CrN, derive their wear resistance in part from the efficient in situ formation of wear-protective carbon tribofilms at contacting asperities.

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Data Availability

Data that supports the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Notes

  1. It is known from the metallurgy literature that adding copper to steel can cause embrittlement due to the formation of liquid copper during processing and its migration to grain boundaries. The remedy is to add roughly an equal amount of nickel to hold the copper within the solid solution as the steel cools from the melt.

  2. Assume the sample to be a semi-infinite solid with thermal conductivity K, illuminated by a laser beam with power P over a rectangular cross-section a a. The maximum temperature rise max at the center of the beam is equal to\({\theta }_{max}\approx 0.56\frac{P}{Ka}\). At a laser power P = 1.25 mW, laser spot width a = 1.0, and thermal conductivity of D2 steel K = 20 W/m–K, \({\theta }_{max}\approx 35 K\)

  3. The heat treatment procedure for 52,100 steel is to conduct the solution treatment at 870 C for one hour and then quench in oil. The resulting Vickers hardness is 76256, based on a data set of 10 indents. The heat treatment procedure for D2 steel is to conduct the solution treatment at 1010 C for 15 min and then quench in oil, followed by tempering at 177 C for 15 min. The resulting Vickers hardness is 81733, based on a data set of 10 indents.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the support from U. S. National Science Foundation (Grant No. CMMI-1662606). The authors would also like to thank Valvoline for providing the PAO-4 fluid. This work made use of the MatCI Facility which receives support from the MRSEC Program (NSF DMR- 1720139) of the Materials Research Center at Northwestern University and the SPID facility of Northwestern University’s NUANCE Center, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-1542205), the MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1720139) at the Materials Research Center, the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN) at Northwestern University, the Keck Foundation, and the State of Illinois through IIN. This research was supported in part through the computational resources and staff contributions provided for the QUEST high performance computing facility at Northwestern University, which is jointly supported by the Office of the Provost, the Office for Research, and Northwestern University Information Technology. Research was sponsored by the Army Research Laboratory and was accomplished under Cooperative Agreement Numbers W911NF-20-2-0230 and W911NF-20-2-0292. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Army Research Laboratory or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Government purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation herein.

Funding

Funding was provided by DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory (W911NF-20-2-0230 and W911NF-20-2-0292).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Arman Mohammad Khan, Jannat Ahmed, Shuangbiao Liu, Tobias Martin, Yip-Wah Chung & Q. Jane Wang

  2. DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, 6340 Rodman Road, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, 21005, USA

    Stephen Berkebile

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Yip-Wah Chung

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Contributions

A.M.K, Y.W.C, Q.J.W. and S. B. framed the research scope. A.M.K. wrote the initial manuscript, specifically sections abstract, 1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3. J.A. wrote the sections pertaining to molecular dynamics simulations (sections 2.5 and 3.5). S.L. wrote section 2.3. T.M. wrote section 3.4. Y.W.C and Q.J.W wrote section 4. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yip-Wah Chung or Q. Jane Wang.

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Khan, A.M., Ahmed, J., Liu, S. et al. Formation of Wear-Protective Tribofilms on Different Steel Surfaces During Lubricated Sliding. Tribol Lett 71, 63 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-023-01735-2

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