Wear resistance is the important characteristics of cast iron materials for automobile components. Because the phenomenon of wear is a highly complicated mechanism involving many factors such as surface conditions, chemical reactions with lubricants, metals, and physics, it has not been fully explained. Therefore, it will be necessary to confirm and explain the wear mechanism to develop effective improvements.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the structural change behavior and effects of alloying elements when the material top surface becomes worn, in order to improve the wear resistance of cylinder liners and other cast iron materials. For this purpose, several types of prototype materials were produced, and the relationship between components and wear resistance was investigated by using a laser microscope for quantitative observation of the degree of pearlite microstructure fineness.
The results showed that the addition of Cu and/or Cr reduced the pearlite lamella width and reduced the amount of soft ferrite, improving wear resistance and demonstrating a relationship between the lamella width and hardness.
Based on the results of multivariate analysis, an approximation formula was also found for the hardness (HV), lamella width (μm), and amount of corrosion (μm).