Abrasive Wear Behaviour of Hardened AISI 51B60H Boron Steel

One of the materials that are increasingly used today in various engineering applications is boron steels. Though boron steels draw attentions with their superior wear characteristics, studies on the tribological properties of these materials is quite limited in the literature. Therefore, investigations of the tribological properties of these materials have great importance. In this study; untreated and heat treated (water-quenched and tempered) AISI 51B60H boron steel specimens were prepared. Microstructure analyzes, hardness measurements and abrasive wear behaviour of these material against two different abrasives (Al2O3 and SiC abrasive papers) were investigated in the laboratory conditions. As a result of the experiments, hardness values of heat treated AISI 51B60H boron steel specimens were increased 2 times, abrasive wear resistance was increased 1.5 times against aluminum oxide abrasives (Al2O3) and 1.2 times against silicon carbide (SiC) abrasives comparing to untreated ones. As a result of the study, it is concluded that the water-quenched and tempered AISI 51B60H boron steel can be good alternative to other widely known machine manufacturing steels in engineering applications where abrasive wear exist.