Dry and grease-lubricated reciprocating wear resistance of borided AISI 52100 steel

This work presents new results about the dry and grease-lubricated wear resistance of borided AISI 52100 steel. Boriding was conducted at 850 degrees C for 1 h. The reciprocating wear tests were conducted with an alumina ball of 6 mm of diameter, with normal load of 20 N and sliding distances of 100, 150 and 200 m; a lithium grease was employed for lubrication. In comparison with heat-treated AISI 52100 steel, boriding reduced the coefficient of friction by 15-30% in dry conditions, although both stabilized similarly in grease-lubricated tests. In addition, the results showed that, for the longer sliding distance, boriding increased the wear resistance up to 8 times in dry conditions and up to 10 times using grease for lubrication. The implementation of boriding significantly improved the tribological performance of AISI 52100 steel in both tests conditions.

Automated summary

This study investigates the effect of boriding treatment on the wear resistance of AISI 52100 steel under dry and grease-lubricated conditions. The results show that boriding treatment significantly reduces the coefficient of friction under dry conditions and improves the wear resistance of the steel under grease-lubricated conditions.