Influence of water-abrasive environments on wear resistance, frictionality and crack growth resistance of a sliding friction pair of hardened steel–normalized steel

Keywords

water-abrasive environment, steel, wear resistance, frictional properties, crack growth resistance, rheological fatigue parameter, crack growth rate, fracture toughness.

Cite as

Dvoruk V. I. Influence of water-abrasive environments on wear resistance, frictionality and crack growth resistance of a sliding friction pair of hardened steel–normalized steel. Physicochemical Mechanics of Materials. 2026. 62(3), 57-64.

Abstract

The regularities of crack growth resistance and its influence on the wear resistance and the sliding friction of a pair hardened 40KhN steel–normalized steel 45 during wear in water-abrasive media of various types was studied. It was proved that the influence of the type of water-abrasive media on wear resistance depended on the rheological-fatigue parameter and the crack growth rate as follows: the higher the rheological-fatigue parameter and the lower the crack growth rate, the greater the wear resistance of the friction pair elements. At the same time, the strength of the friction surfaces is the basis of their wear mechanism, and the force component of the contact interaction plays a decisive role. It was established that a necessary condition for the antiwear effect of mechanochemical, thermochemical and mixed-mode films in aqueous-abrasive media is high cyclic crack growth resistance of the base on which they are formed, while the presence of abrasive in an aqueous medium has an embrittlement effect on the interacting surfaces. This leads to a decrease in their cyclic crack growth resistance, wear resistance and friction.