FRICTIONAL TEMPERATURE-FIELD AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE TRANSITION OF WEAR MECHANISMS OF STEEL 52100

In this paper, the frictional temperature field and its relationship to the transition of wear mechanisms of steel 52100 during dry sliding were studied by wear testing, SEM observations of worn surfaces and particles. Computer simulation of the temperature field in a surface layer during sliding wear was based on a mathematical model of frictional temperature field which itself was based on the law of heat conduction. The results of computer simulation for thermometric data, which were real-time recorded by a thermal video system, show that there was an ideal fit between the measured data and calculated curve. On the basis of analysing the relationship between the transition from mild wear to severe wear and the temperature field in surface layers during sliding of the steel, a new concept is put forward that the lower heat effect corresponds to mild wear and the higher heat effect corresponds to severe wear. The value of T(b) corresponding to the transition of wear mechanisms of steel 521 00 is about 200-degrees-C.