IMPROVEMENT OF THE TRIBOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF STAINLESS STEEL

04X18H10 BY ELECTROSPARK ALLOYS

V. Agafii*, J. Padgurskas**, V. Mihailov*, A. Andriuis**, R. Kreivaitis**

* Institute of Applied Physics, Moldova Academy of Sciences, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
** Aleksandras Stulginskis University, Academy, Kaunas, Lithuania

It is known that austenitic stainless steels exhibit low tribological properties; therefore,
they cannot be used in friction pairs without pretreatment aimed at surface hardening. One of the
methods for hardening the working surfaces of the parts is electrospark alloying, which has some
advantages over other methods; that is, it provides high adhesion of the deposited layers to the
substrate, ease of technology and equipment, the possibility of depositing of any conductive
material, etc.
Specially shaped samples of stainless steel 04X18H10 were subjected to electrospark
hardening using electrodes of Mo, Cr, and a T15K6 hard alloy as well as to a combined treatment
involving initially Mo and then Cr. The treatment was conducted under conditions of electric
pulses with an energy of 0.3 to 1.0 J. Tribological tests of the coatings were conducted using an
upgraded -2 friction and wear machine in the laboratory for tribology of the Kaunas
Aleksandras Stulginskis University (Lithuania). A coated segment (with a flat working surface)
was paired with a disc of hardened stainless steel 30X13 (HRC 42-45). All coatings were tested
under a load of 100 and 200 N in engine oil 10W-40 until a sliding distance of 30000 m. Two
samples of each of the coatings were tested under each load. The wear of the samples was
determined by weighing on an electronic balance with an accuracy of 0.1 mg. During the friction
and wear tests, the friction coefficient and the friction distance were recorded in a computer
using a special program. After the wear tests, the friction surfaces of the segments and disks were
subjected to profilometry using a Mahr GmbH Gottigen Typ ST 500 profilograph; micrographs
were recorded using a NICON ECLIPSE MA-100 optical microscope. A MICRO-COMBI
TESTER was used to record the penetration charts of a pyramidal indenter under indentation in
the load F (in mN)penetration depth h (in nm) coordinates to determine the mechanical
properties of the coatings.
It was found that at a load of 100 N the electrospark molybdenum coatings had the lowest
wear rate (Jm=1.6710-6mg/m) and the coatings made of hard alloy T15K6 had the highest one
(Jm=18.310-6mg/m) (Fig. 1a). The stainless steel 041810 without a coating was subjected to
wear by more than three orders of magnitude (Jm=55.710-4mg/m) (Fig. 1b), compared to steel
04X18H10 with a molybdenum coating. Figure 2 clearly shows the reasons for the steel without
a coating to be subjected to wear that much. It shows the curves with the changes in the friction
coefficients in the course of advancing the initial meters of the friction distance (for the first 12
minutes of testing the coatings). It is seen that the friction couple steel 04X18H10-steel 30X13
has the highest friction coefficient f = 0.2 starting from the first seconds of the testing, though
after 9 min. the friction coefficient is decreased to 0.022, and its value remains the lowest
throughout the entire experiment (see also Fig. 3). However, the wear intensity of steel
04X18H10 was the highest, because it was subjected to wear most extensively for those 9 min.
when the friction couple was actually working in the mode of scoring. After the surface of the
contact was enlarged by more than 5 times and the pressure at the contact was decreased
respectively, the friction coefficient naturally became lower.
 Fig. 1. The wear rate of segments with different coatings and disks a. The wear rate of
segments without coatings and disks b.

Fig. 2. Varying of the friction coefficients for the first 12 minutes of the testing of the
coatings (the working load is 100 N).
It was registered that at a load of 100 N, the disks made of quenched steel 30X13 were
subjected to wear by 3.36 to 12.91 times more during the work with steel 04X18H10, than
during the work with the steel with various coatings. It is probably also connected with the
period when the disk works with steel 04X18H10 in the mode of scoring.
 Fig. 3. The varying of the friction coefficients of the coatings depending on the passed
friction distance (the working load is 100 N).
The microimages of the friction surfaces of the disks and the steel segments without a
coating showed that the adhesion and abrasive mechanisms of wear are primary for these
surfaces. This can be clearly seen in the microimages (Fig. 4), where a lot of tear-outs and deep
abrasive grooves are detected both on the surface of steel 04X18H10 (Fig. 4a) and on the surface
of the disk (Fig. 4b).

Fig. 4. Microimages of the surfaces of friction of the segment of steel 04X18H10(a) and
disk of steel 30X13(b) after passing 30000 m of the friction distance at a load of 100 N.
The wear intensity of the coatings made of chromium and molybdenum + chromium was
the same, though the values of the initial microhardness of these coatings were different (Table
1).
Table 1. The microhardness of the coatings prior to and after the tribological testings. The
microhardness of the coatings was determined using a PMT-3 microhardness meter.

Microhardness of the coating , MPa (to 0.49 N)

steel steel steel steel steel

04X18H10 041810 + 041810 + 041810 041810
i./n State of the sample
+ chromium molybdenum + molybdenum +T15K6 without a
chromium coating
1. Initial state 3508 6124 7918 5292 3058
2. After testing under load 100 N 4327 6309 7832 7958 3528
3. After testing under load 200 N 4900 6978 6919 - -

Table 1 shows that at the initial state the molybdenum coatings have the highest microhardness.
We assume that in the process of electrospark alloying of the surface of steel 04X18H10 with
molybdenum, the molybdenum nitride is formed, which strengthens these coatings at a fairly
high level. In the process of friction, the chromium coatings and combination coating of
molybdenum + chromium are strengthened, i.e., they are plastically deformed. However, the
molybdenum coatings are softened in the process of friction, which affects favorably both the
friction process and the wear degree of these coatings. As it was shown earlier in [1-3], the
softening of metal in a small range leads to a decrease of the amount of dislocations, and the
wear resistance of the material increases. The same occurs upon strengthening of metal in a
certain range, i.e., the metal wear resistance increases as well. Obviously, in our case, both the
softening and strengthening of the coatings result in a decrease in the wear intensity of the
latter.The coatings made of hard alloy T15K6, as it was shown above, were subjected to wear
more than the other coatings, perhaps because of their friction coefficient being the highest
among all coatings (Figs. 2, 3). Besides, small particles of the wear of the hard alloy and of the
coating itself caused the intense wear of the disk of steel 30X13, so that its wear was by 2.13
times higher compared to that of the disk with the molybdenum coating.

Fig. 5. The wear rate of segments with different coatings and disks a. The wear rate of
the segments without coatings and disks - b.
It was determined that for the coatings made of hard alloy T15K6 the load of 200 N is
critical. At this load the friction coefficient increases to 0.2 0.25 and the coating is damaged
rapidly. In addition, the molybdenum coatings and those of molybdenum + chromium at this load
demonstrated identical wear rate Jm= 510-6 mg/m, though the wear intensity of disks was
different. The fact that these coatings exhibited identical wear resistance can be explained as
follows. First of all, Figs. 6 and 7 show that the friction coefficients of these coatings were
actually at the same level throughout the entire experimental process. And secondly, the values of
microhardness of these coatings after the tribological tests at the load of 200 N were almost at
the same level as well (Tab.1).

Fig. 6. Varying of the friction coefficients for the first 12 minutes of the testing of the
coatings (the working load is 200 N).
It is worthwhile noting that the chromium coatings were subjected to wear by 1.34 times
more than the rest of the coatings.
The wear rate of steel 04X18H10 (Jm= 5710-3 mg/m) and that of the disks of steel 30X13
(Jm= 4.410-3 mg/m) is found to increase by an order of magnitude with an increase in the load by
two times (from 100 to 200 N). The wear resistance of steel 04X18H10 was registered to be
lower by more than 4 orders of magnitude, than that of the molybdenum and molybdenum +
chromium coatings. At a load of 100 N, it was only by three orders of magnitude lower than the
wear resistance of the molybdenum coating. In our opinion, this can be attributed to the fact that
the coefficient of the friction couple segment (of stainless steel 04X18H10) disk (of stainless
steel 30X13) was the highest (f = 0.2) from the beginning of the testing (Fig. 6). And if at a load
of 100 N the friction coefficient was stabilized after 9 min. (Fig. 2), then in this case it was
stabilized only after 30 minutes. Probably, when the surface of the contact was increased by 15
times versus its initial size, the friction coefficient was also decreased to 0.062 (Fig. 7). As it was
aforementioned, steel 04X18H10 works with steel 30X13 in the mode of scoring from the
beginning of the experiment. Seizure and scoring of the friction surfaces of these materials are
assumed to occur due to their chemical affinity to chromium. We suppose that using quenched
steel 45 instead of steel 30X13 as a material for disks will make it possible to improve the work
of steel 04X18H10. We assume that the coatings of steel 04X18H10 can also be used at higher
loads.
 Fig. 7. Varying of the friction coefficients of the coatings depending on the passed friction
distance (the working load is 200 N).
It was observed that the roughness of the friction surfaces of the coatings in the process of
friction and wear decreases, whereas that of steel 04X18H10 without a coating increases by
29.75 times at a load of 100 N and by 45.5 times at a load of 200 N (Table 2).
Table 2. Varying of the roughness parameters (Ra, Rz and Rmax) of the electrospark coatings
prior to and after the tribological tests.

The initial of coatings, The roughness of the coating after

i/n Composition coatings m 30000 m sliding distance, m
Ra Rz Rmax Ra Rz Rmax
After experiments carried out with a load of 100 N
1 Steel 04X18H10 + chromium 4.9 23.61 32.83 4.2 19.84 28.12
Combined coating of steel 04X18H10 +
2 molybdenum + chrome 5.95 27.16 37.94 5.35 25.23 32.16
3 Steel 04X18H10 + molybdenum 4.23 22.78 27.33 3.95 20.52 27.01
4 Steel 041810 +T15K6 4.64 23.28 35.28 3.21 18.02 23.78
5 Steel 041810 without a coating 0.08 0.94 1.49 2.38 14.15 20.94
After experiments carried out with a load of 200
1 Steel 04X18H10 + chromium 4.93 23.84 33.92 3.17 17.33 25.22
2 Combined coating of steel 04X18H10 +
molybdenum + chrome 6.08 29.63 42.62 5.23 26.29 34.9
3 Steel 04X18H10 + molybdenum 4.22 20.79 27.12 3.71 19.87 22.57
4 Steel 041810 without a coating 0.08 0.94 1.49 3.64 18.44 21.62
 Fig. 8. Microimages of the friction surfaces of the segments of steel 04X18H10 with
different coatings (after passing a 30000 m friction distance at a load of 200 N); a of
molybdenum, b of the combination coating molybdenum + chromium, c of chromium, d - of
stainless steel 04X18H10 without a coating.
Figure 8 shows the microimages of the friction surfaces of the segments made of stainless
steel 04X18H10 with different coatings (after passing a 30000 m friction distance at a load of
200 N). It is clear from the above microimages that the molybdenum coating and combination
coating of molybdenum + chromium worked easily in the process of friction and wear (their
surfaces are smooth and without any marks of high deformations) (Figs. 8a and b). This is
supported by the data of Tables 1 and 2 as well. However, steel 04X18H10 without a coating
(Fig. 8d) worked under very severe conditions. It can be seen that the adhesion and abrasive
mechanisms of wear are primary for this surface. In addition, the surface is heavily deformed;
small cracks are detected, which indicate that a fatigue mechanism of wear is added. In the
process of friction, the surface of chromium coating (Fig. 8c) is strengthened more than of all the
rest, namely, by 1392 MPa (Table 1). Obviously, the surface layers of this coating undergo the
highest plastic deformations (Table 2). However, the latter ensure an increase in the contact area,
decrease in the surface roughness (Table 2) and wear intensity. In this case, it can be assumed
that the surface layers are strengthened less than the admissible limit of strengthening (it is
mentioned in [4]), higher of which an extremely gross wear of surface would occur.
To summarize, it can be inferred that:
1.The electrospark coatings of molybdenum on the stainless steel 04X18H10 decreased the wear
rate of steel by more than three orders of magnitude at a load of 100 N.
2. The electrospark coatings of molybdenum and combination coatings of molybdenum +
chromium decreased the wear rate of steel 04X18H10 by more than four orders of magnitude at
a load of 200 N.
3. The high wear resistance of coatings of molybdenum and molybdenum + chromium is
supposed to be reached as a result of the molybdenum nitride formation on the surface of steel
04X18H10 in the process of the coating plating.
4. It is assumed that the application of disks made of materials that are not chemically affined to
chromium (e.g. steel 45, etc.) will make it possible to increase even more the wear resistance of
the coatings on steel 04X18H10 and the range of the working loads of the friction couples.
5. We also suppose that it is possible to obtain coatings with a higher wear resistance on steel
12X18H10T, than on steel 04X18H10, which will decrease even more the wear intensity of the
friction couples.

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