The influence of cementite spheroidizing duration on the microstructure and sliding wear response of grey cast iron against AISI 4330

The present study investigates the sliding wear properties of G350 grey cast iron following various annealing durations. The annealed samples were used as pins in sliding wear tests against AISI 4330 discs. Most testing combinations resulted in mild wear with little matrix damage to the cast iron pin or AISI 4330 disc. A transition to severe wear was observed for the highest load and longest annealing times where the overly spheroidized and ferritized cast iron matrix deformed significantly, prohibited beneficial oxidative wear from occurring, and thus damaged its disc counterpart. The depth of subsurface deformation increased with annealing time but not load. Instead, the depth peaked at 4kg applied load for each condition due to the spallation of the affected surface layer at the higher load.