Wear behaviors and wear mechanisms of several alloys under simulated deep-sea environment covering seawater hydrostatic pressure

The wear behaviors of self-mated 316 steel, Hastelloy C-276, Inconel 625 and Ti6Al4V alloy were evaluated under simulated deep-sea environment involving hydrostatic pressure of seawater. It was found that the wear rates of the four tested alloys were well correlated with the seawater hydrostatic pressure in a form of first-order exponential decay. Self-mated 316 steel, Hastelloy C-276 and Inconel 625 were dominated by delamination wear, and their wear rates increased with the increase of seawater hydrostatic pressure. Self-mated Ti6Al4V, however, was subject to abrasive wear, and its wear rate sharply decreased with the increase of seawater hydrostatic pressure. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.