Fretting wear behavior of bulk amorphous steel

Fretting wear of Fe41Co7Cr15Mo14C15B6Y2 bulk metallic glass (BMG) was investigated using the ball-on-disc measurement. The wear behaviors of the samples roughly follow the classical Archard wear law at room temperature. The influence of temperature on wear resistance (Rw) and microhardness (Hv) was evaluated. A good linear correlation was found between Rw and H for the Fe-based BMG. The results indicate that the hardness softening is responsible for the decrease of Rw at high temperature. The wear mechanism at high temperature was elucidated through the analysis of oxidation and debris morphology on the wear scar. Compared with traditional crystalline steels and other non-ferrous metal-based glassy alloys, the bulk amorphous steel shows higher wear resistance and hardness, which promotes its application as an advanced engineering material.