Wear Behavior of Harmonic Structured 304L Stainless Steel

Wear behavior of a harmonic structured 304L austenitic stainless steel with periodically distributed fine and coarse grains was examined and compared with a sintered non-harmonic structured 304L stainless steel and a low carbon conventional 304 stainless steel using fretting wear tests at varying loads in ball-on-flat contact configuration. Characterization was accomplished using scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, optical profilometry and Raman spectroscopy. Coefficient of friction and wear volume were minimum at intermediate normal load of 5 N, whereas maximum at 10 N for the harmonic stainless steel compared to other two steels. Harmonically distributed fine- and coarse-grained structure attributes to the higher wear rate of the harmonic structured steel at higher load because of differential interaction of the ball with the harmonically distributed hard (fine) and relatively soft (coarse) regions.