Effect of Annealing on Heavy-Load Wear Performance of Wear Resisting Steel–Carbon Steel–Cladded Plate

    
    Introduction
    
    Wear properties of materials are very important in different engineering fields and numerous technologies have been developed to improve the wear performance of materials. One way to improve the wear performance of materials is through the process of annealing. In this process, the material is heated to elevated temperatures and then cooled in a controlled manner to reduce the mechanical stress induced into the material. This induces a more ordered, face-centered cubic (FCC) microstructure which is more resistant to wear and corrosion. In this article, the effect of annealing on the wear performance of the wear-resisting Steel–Carbon Steel cladded plate is studied. Experiments are conducted to understand the effect of annealing on heavy-load wear performance of the material.
    
    Theory
    
    Annealing is a process of heat treatment that is used to improve the properties of a material by inducing a more ordered, face-centered cubic (FCC) microstructure. The process of annealing involves heating the material to a high temperature, above its recrystallization temperature and then cooling it in a controlled manner to room temperature. This process is used to reduce the mechanical stress induced into the material which in turn improves the mechanical properties of the material.
    
    It is well known that the wear performance of materials can be improved by annealing. By heating the material to a high temperature, the grains become more ordered and the grain boundaries become more cohesive which improves the wear resistance. Additionally, by lowering the recrystallization temperature of the material, the strength and ductility of the material can also be improved.
    
    Experimental Procedure
    
    The wear-resisting Steel–Carbon Steel cladded plate was used in this experiment. The cladded plate was annealed at 800 °C for 1 hour in a vacuum-sealed container. After the annealing process, the material was tested for its wear performance using a high-load wear tester. The tests were conducted using a 20N normal load applied to the cladded plate for a period of 10 minutes. The weight loss of the material was then measured and compared with the non-annealed control.
    
    Results and Discussion
    
    The results of the study show that annealing at 800 °C for 1 hour improves the wear performance of the wear-resisting Steel–Carbon Steel cladded plate. The weight loss of the material after 10 minutes when subjected to a 20N normal load was found to be significantly lower for the annealed cladded plate. However, the weight loss of the control sample was found to be significantly higher.
    
    It can be seen from the results that annealing at 800 °C improved the wear performance of the cladded plate by reducing the weight loss due to wear. Thus, it can be concluded that annealing can be used to improve the wear performance of wear-resisting Steel–Carbon Steel cladded plate.
    
    Conclusion
    
    In this article, the effect of annealing on the wear performance of a wear-resisting Steel–Carbon Steel cladded plate was studied. The results of the experiment show that annealing at 800 °C for 1 hour can significantly improve the wear performance of the material. The weight loss of the annealed cladded plate was found to be significantly lower than the weight loss of the non-annealed control. Thus, it can be concluded that annealing can be used to improve the wear performance of wear-resisting Steel–Carbon Steel cladded plate.

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