Friction and wear properties of sintered sulfur-containing high-speed steels at elevated temperature

Abstract

Ferrous alloys developed on the basis of P/M high speed steels have shown enormous potential in addressing friction, wear, and lubrication problems faced by many military and civil industries. Sulfur in the alloys can react with certain elements to form some sorts of solid lubricants, which provides a promising solution to lubrication problems in many high-temperature engineering fields. Sulfur-containing high speed steels were prepared using powder metallurgy techniques here. High temperature friction properties of the samples were studied using a self-matching friction couple on a pin-on-disk tribo-meter. Worn surfaces were analyzed and the possible friction mechanism was discussed. It was found that the friction coefficient curve became more stable but the values decreased gradually with increasing temperature. The contained sulfides help to reduce the friction coefficient. Oxides formed on the worn surfaces can be considered as a major contribution to the tribological mechanism.