A study on friction and wear behaviour of carburized, carbonitrided and borided AISI 1020 and 5115 steels

The friction and wear characteristics of AISI 1020 and 5115 steel surfaces improved by various thermochemical heat treatments such as carburizing, carbonitriding and boronizing were determined. Samples prepared from the test materials were treated at liquid and gases carburizing, gases carbonitriding and solid boronizing mediums. The hardness distributions, microstructures and X-ray diffraction studies were performed. The wear tests were carried out with pin-on-disc sample configurations and weight losses were determined as a function of sliding distance and applied load. The friction behaviours of tested samples were also examined. Thus, the heat treating capacity of a simple steel such as AISI 1020 was determined and compared with other treated steel samples.