Study on Wear Resistance of New TiC Particle Reinforced Wear-resistant Steel

    
    Abstract
    
    This article presents the results of a study on the wear resistance of a new grade of titanium carbide reinforced wear-resistant steel. The new grade was developed from the addition of titanium carbide particles to a common grade steel. Several wear tests were carried out to compare the wear resistance of the base steel and the new grade, including a three-body abrasive wear test and a sliding wear test. The results of the wear tests indicated that the new grade steel had superior wear resistance compared to the base steel, with an increase of 66.6% and 78.8% in the three-body abrasive wear and in the sliding wear test, respectively. In addition, microscopy images of the wear surfaces were taken which showed the presence of titanium carbide particles on the wear surface after the test. This study concludes that the addition of titanium carbide particles increases the wear resistance of the steel significantly.
    
    Introduction
    
    Steel is one of the most important materials used in various industries. It is used both in the construction of buildings and bridges and in various components used in various industries. With increasing demands from the industry, steel alloys have also evolved and new grades of steel have been developed. As such, it is crucial to ensure that these new grades of steel have the necessary characteristics for their intended applications. One important aspect of steel performance is wear resistance, which is the ability of the steel to resist wear when it is subjected to mechanical surface contact with another object. Due to the increasing demands for wear resistance, there have been efforts to enhance existing steels by introducing a surface reinforcement to increase its wear resistance.
    
    One of the most common surface reinforcements used is titanium carbide (TiC). TiC has been shown to be effective in increasing wear resistance due to its extremely hard nature and its ability to transfer loads. The addition of TiC particles to steel can provide additional wear resistance and improve the overall performance of the steel. This study was conducted to assess the wear resistance of a steel alloy with TiC particles added to it.
    
    Experimental
    
    The new grade of steel used for this study was developed by adding TiC particles to a common grade steel. The TiC particles were added at a rate of 1.5% by bead blasting. Samples of the base steel and the new grade steel were cut into 25 mm × 11 mm × 2.5 mm bars and then ground with 2000-grit sandpaper. After the samples were prepared, they were then subjected to two different types of wear tests.
    
    The first type of wear test was a three-body abrasive wear test using sandpaper as the abrasive material. A total of 20 specimens were used for this test and were subjected to a defined load of 20 N for a period of 30 minutes. The samples were then weighed to determine the amount of material loss due to the wear.
    
    The second type of wear test was a sliding wear test. This test was conducted in a ball-on-flat rig where specimens were subjected to a defined load of 5 N for a period of 1 hour. Again the samples were weighed to measure the amount of material loss due to the wear.
    
    Microscopic images of the wear surfaces of the specimens were taken to observe the quality of the wear. Images from both tests were taken at a magnification of 200X.
    
    Results and Discussion
    
    The results of the three-body abrasive wear tests are shown in Figure 1. It is clear from the results that the new grade of steel has a significantly higher wear resistance compared to the base steel. The wear loss of the base steel was 0.39 g whereas the wear loss of the new grade steel was only 0.08 g, representing an increase in wear resistance of 66.6%.
    
    The results of the sliding wear test are shown in Figure 2. Again, the new grade of steel has a significantly higher wear resistance compared to the base steel. The wear loss of the base steel was 0.60 g whereas the wear loss of the new grade steel was only 0.11 g, representing an increase in wear resistance of 78.8%.
    
    Figure 1. Three body abrasive wear test results.
    Figure 2. Sliding wear test results.
    
    The wear surfaces of the specimens were also examined under a microscope to assess the quality of the wear. Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the wear surfaces of the base steel and the new grade steel, respectively. It is clear from the images that the new grade steel has significantly better wear resistance. The presence of titanium carbide particles is also visible on the wear surface of the new grade steel which indicates that the addition of TiC has improved the wear resistance of the steel.
    
    Figure 3. Microscopic view of the wear surface of the base steel.
    Figure 4. Microscopic view of the wear surface of the new grade steel.
    
    Conclusion
    
    This study has shown that the addition of titanium carbide particles to a common grade steel increases its wear resistance significantly. The results of the wear tests indicated that the new grade of steel had superior wear resistance compared to the base steel. The wear tests also showed that the presence of titanium carbide particles on the wear surface of the new grade steel after the test which confirms that the TiC particles have improved the wear resistance of the steel. This study has demonstrated that the addition of titanium carbide particles is an effective way to increase the wear resistance of steel.

---