Abstract
This paper describes the effects of oxide film, produced on the surface layer of steel, on wear. Stationary and rotary test pieces of S 45 C were treated with heated steam and were subjected to non-lubricated sliding wear under the conditions of oxidizing and adhesive wear to study the behavior of the oxide film to the wear. The test results showed that so far as oxide film was present on the sliding surfaces, the metal transfer from the other test piece hardly occurred irrespective of wear conditions so that high wear resistance was observed. However, when the fragments of film were interposed between the slideng surfaces by the failure and dropping out of the film during the course of wear, another wear caused by the scratching and ploughing rapidly increased the amount of wear. The drop-out of oxide layers was larger on the sliding surfaces of both of stationary and rotary test pieces with oxide layers as compared with the surfaces of stationary test pieces only with oxide layers. Therefore, a sufficient wear resistance was not achieved in the former case. The conditions of the steam treatment for improving the wear resistance of steel was at 600°C for 2hrs. in the range of these experiments. When it was treated at a lower temperature, the film produced was too thin; and when treated at a higher temperature, the dropping out of oxide layer was observed immediately after the treatment. The both cases were found to be improper for the purpose of improving wear resistance.
