Reciprocating Sliding Wear Behavior of Newly Developed Bainitic Steels

The present work discusses the mechanical properties and wear behavior of newly developed bainitic rail steels with nominal composition of 0.71 pct C, 0.35 pct Si, 1.15 pct Mn, 0.59 pct Cr, 0.40 pct Cu, and 0.20 pct Ni (all in wt pct)). Isothermal transformation has been carried out at different time and temperatures for obtaining different bainitic morphologies. Linearly reciprocating sliding wear behavior of the steels has been studied and compared with that of the conventional pearlitic rail steel. Considerable improvement in mechanical properties of the bainitic steels has been noticed. The hardness of the bainitic steels increases with decrease in isothermal transformation temperature. It leads to enhancement of wear resistance of the bainitic steels compared to the conventional rail steel. Finally, it clearly draws correlation between mechanical properties, wear resistance, and microstructural variation of a series of bainitic rail steels.