Abrasive Wear of Digger Tooth Steel

The influence of silicon carbide SiC abrasive particles of 20, 30, 40, 50 and60μm size on carburized digger tooth steel was studied. Four types of steel, withdifferent hardness, were tested at two constant linear sliding speeds and undervarious loads of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50N. Tests were carried out for sliding time of0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5min. Experimental results showed that there wasconsistent reduction in abrasive wear as the hardness of the materials wasincreased. It was found that wear increased with the increase of applied load,linear sliding speed and sliding time. Also, it was noticed that the wear increasedwith increase in abrasive particle size, and the most effective size was 40 μm.SEM observations of the worm surface showed that the cutting and ploughingwere the dominant abrasive wear mechanisms.