Investigation of retained austenite morphology-dominated hardening and fatigue behavior in bainitic steel during wear process

This study aims to revealing the relationship among retained austenite (RA) morphology, deformation-induced transformation (DIPT) behavior, and surface wear behavior. The hardening and fatigue behavior during wear of continuous film-like RA (CFRA), blocky RA (BRA), discontinuous film-like RA (DFRA), and point or flocculent RA (PRA) achieved through different tempering processes was investigated using quasi-in situ fatigue test and impact abrasive wear test. RA morphology exhibited a significant influence on hardening and fatigue behavior during wear. CFRA exhibited the best wear properties, owing to its excellent fatigue performance and hardening capacity. The BRA displayed relative high wear performance, with adequate hardening capacity but weak fatigue performance. DFRA demonstrated comparable wear resistance to BRA because of better fatigue performance. PRA exhibited deficient wear performance because of insufficient fatigue properties and low work-hardening ability. Retained austenite with diverse morphology forms via varied tempering in bainitic steel.Fatigue experiment unveils austenite evolution during fatigue.Austenite morphology impacts wear via hardening and fatigue behavior.