Structural transformations and wear resistance of abrasive-affected amorphous Fe- and Co-based alloys

The abrasive wear resistance of the Fe64Co30Si3B3, Fe82.6Nb5Cu3Si8B1.4, Co86.5Cr4Si7B2.5, and Fe81Si4B13C2 amorphous alloys (ribbon 30 μm thick) has been investigated upon sliding over fixed abrasives (corundum and silicon carbide). The character of fracture of the surface and structural transformations initiated in these materials by the abrasive action have been studied by the metallographic, X-ray diffraction, and electron-microscopic methods. It has been shown that the abrasive wear resistance of the amorphous alloys is smaller by a factor of 1.6–2.9 than that of the Kh12M and U8 tool steels possessing approximately the same level of hardness. A pronounced softening of the surface layer of the amorphous alloys in the process of wear, which is characterized by a decrease in their microhardness reaching 12.5%, has been found. It has been shown that in the surface layer of these amorphous alloys upon wear there arises a small amount (on the order of several volume percent) of the nanocrystalline structure, which does not exert a marked effect on the microhardness and wear resistance of the alloys. In the alloys under study, the main factor that is responsible for their comparatively low abrasive wear resistance is their local softening in the process of wear caused by specific features of deformation processes occurring heterogeneously under the action of high shear contact stresses.