Effect of Heat Treatment Hardening on the Dry Sliding Wear Behaviour of Mild Steel

Mild steel offers a variety of properties for various applications at lower costs giving the alloy a large application base in industry. However, the increasing complexity and severity of service environments has shifted the focus of many industries to structure modification techniques, like heat treatment, to improve material properties and performance. The focus of this paper was to therefore investigate the effect of heat treatment induced hardness on the sliding wear behaviour of mild steel. The results showed that resistance to dry sliding wear increased with increasing hardness of the mild steel samples. Both abrasive and adhesive wear mechanisms were observed to occur on the samples, however abrasive wear was predominant.