Wear and microstructure analysis on AISI420 stainless steel by annealing & tempering process under dry sliding conditions.

AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel is accepted for its sensible corrosion resistance. Stainless steel is commercially available in the market at low cost. AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel has excellent hardness, strength, and wear resistance but it lacks in its ductility. Thus, to enhance the property of ductility, annealing and tempering processes were chosen to maintain a stable relationship with ductility and brittleness. The samples were chosen in the form of cylindrical shapes with diameter 10 mm and length 40 mm, respectively. The samples were subjected to tempering at three different temperatures of 250°C, 350°C, 450°C and to annealing at three different temperatures of 723°C, 823°C, 923°C. For comparison of the results, untreated sample is kept aside. To verify wear resistance of the material, wear test was performed using a pin on disc wear test apparatus for all the samples. Then, all the samples were subjected to Scanning Electron Microscope, and the results are compared. It was found that transformations of martensite phase to retained austenite were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]