Phase transformations in austenitic stainless steels during low temperature tribological stressing

The tribological behaviour at low temperatures is unknown for many materials even for those widely used in cryogenic engineering. Because of the extension of applications of low temperature technologies there is a need for investigations in this field. It is the aim to study the stability of the austenitic structure of FeCrNi alloys under these harsh conditions. This paper deals with tribological experiments with alloys of different stability of the austenitic structure in the temperature range between room and liquid helium temperature. It was found that alloys stable at room temperature show martensitic transformation under tribological stressing and decreased service temperature. The obtained transformation behaviour does not exhibit a linear tendency down to liquid helium temperature. A maximum could be stated.