Investigating the effect of deep cryogenic heat treatment on the wear behavior of 100Cr6 alloy steel

This work has focused on the effect of the deep cryogenic treatment on the wear behavior, microstructural changes, retained austenite percentage and hardness of 100Cr6 (AISI 52100) alloy steel. These analyses were conducted using the scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and EDS to study the microstructure, a pin-on-disk wear testing machine to study the wear behavior, as well as a hardness testing machine to study the hardness changes. It was shown that the deep cryogenic treatment eliminated retained austenite and made a more uniform carbide distribution with a higher percentage. It was also observed that the deep cryogenic treatment improved the wear behavior and hardness of the samples. Moreover, the hardness and wear resistance decreased in longer austenizing durations due to the grain growth and dissolution of carbides in the structure. It was also shown that the predominant wear mechanism was a combination of abrasive and tribo-chemical wear.