Dry rolling-sliding wear of austempered cast iron

In the present investigation, the dry rolling-sliding wear of two austempered ductile irons (ADIs), characterized by different hardness values, was investigated. The tests were carried out using disks with 40 mm diameter and 10 mm height. The applied load was in the range between 50 and 500 N. Since the initial Hertzian pressures were quite large because of the line contact, a plasticity dominated wear with the formation of delamination was obtained. Therefore, the treatment cycle of some specimens was conducted with the aim of obtaining a mild wear during rolling-sliding through the formation of a surface oxide layer. As a comparison, the dry rolling-sliding wear of a gas nitrided steel was also investigated.