Dry sliding wear behavior of Astaloy85Mo steel surface melted by gas tungsten arc welding

In this study, Astsloy85Mo powder metallurgy steel specimens were surface melted using Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) process. The effects of different parameters of the process on the microstructure, hardness, and wear resistance of the melted surfaces were studied using optical and scanning electron microscope equipped with EDS, Vickers hardness unit and pin on flat wear test machine. Surface melting resulted in structural refinement and the hardness of the melted layers reached to the values of up to 800 HV10, more than five times of that of the base PM steel which was about 150 HV10. Moreover, surface melting reduced the wear rate to 100 times lower than that of the base steel. It can be concluded that TIG can be used effectively for surface melting to improve the wear resistance of the Astaloy85Mo powder metallurgy steel surface.