Wear 258 (2005) 166–177

Abrasive wear of steam-treated sintered iron

W.M. da Silvaa , R. Binderb , J.D.B. de Melloa,∗
a Laboratório de Tribologia e Materiais, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, 38400-902 Uberlândia, MG, Brazil
b Empresa Brasileira de Compressores, 89219-100, Joinville, SC, Brazil

Received 22 December 2003

Available online 21 November 2004

Abstract

Steam oxidized sintered iron-based materials have been, and continue to be used for load bearing parts in sliding contacts. Although the
permanence of an oxide layer on the external surface is reported to be the main factor affecting tribological behaviour, in industrial practice
as well as in laboratory tests abrasive wear is reported to play an important role in the final stage of the process. The removal of the superficial
oxide layer, its fragmentation and transfer to the counter-body associated with metallic debris generation, induces the formation of hard
debris particles acting as abrasives on the tribological system. In this paper, abrasive wear of steam-treated sintered iron is analysed by
means of micro-abrasion tests. Sixteen specimens were produced from atomised iron powders (Ancor Steel 1000B Höganäs) of different
sizes (<65, 65–90, 90–125, >125 ␮m). They were compacted at four different pressures (300, 400, 500 and 600 MPa), sintered for 30 min at
1120 ◦ C and then subjected to continuous steam treatments at 540 ◦ C for 2 h. The micro-abrasion tests were conducted under constant load
and speed conditions while special emphasis was given to the nature of the abrasive; two exogenous (Al2 O3 and SiO2 ) and one endogenous
abrasive (Fe2 O3 ) were used. The results show that the abrasion resistance is strongly influenced by the processing parameters, the lowest wear
coefficients were obtained by using the highest compaction pressures and the smallest powder grade. The pore size is the main micro-structural
parameter affecting the abrasive resistance. For all abrasives, interrupted tests showed that the small pores are completely filled by abrasive
particles in the initial stage of the tests while the biggest ones remains open until the completion of the tests. Wear coefficients were strongly
influenced (up to 10 times) by the abrasive nature. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the abrasive wear mechanisms were
determined by the abrasive particle features.
© 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Micro-abrasion; Sintered iron; Steam treatment

1. Introduction in the interconnected porosity is reported to provide an in-

Steam oxidation is a frequently used surface treatment ap-
plied to sintered iron-based parts, mainly for low or medium
density components (5.4–7.0 g/cm3 ) [1,2]. Initially this pro-
cess was used as an economic way to seal the network of inter-
connected pores characteristic of sintered iron, thus making
the component impervious to liquid and gases. This treatment
is claimed to improve the superficial properties of sintered
materials [2–7]. Besides the closing of the interconnected
porosity, steam treatment is claimed to improve other prop-
erties of sintered iron. The oxide formed on the surface and
∗ Corresponding author. Fax: +55 34 3239 4186.
E-mail address: ltm-demello@ufu.br (J.D.B. de Mello).
crease in hardness; in mechanical properties as a whole, and
in wear resistance in particular, a decrease in the friction co-
efficient and an increase in corrosion resistance in moderately
aggressive environments [2,5]. Furthermore, steam oxidation
produces a blue/black layer, which enhances the aesthetic ap-
pearance of components. The main disadvantages of the pro-
cess are the reduction in tensile strength, impact resistance
and ductility.
Examples of components that are steam-treated are gears,
cams, chain pinions, compressor parts, bearings, pulleys, and
sprockets [4].
Molinari and Straffelini [1,8] studied the effect of slid-
ing speed on the dry sliding behaviour of sintered and steam
oxidized iron, Fe–Cu (2%) and Fe–C (0.3%) alloys. They

0043-1648/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wear.2004.09.042
 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177 167

showed that the wear rate is low and independent of the chem-
ical composition of the specimens as long as the oxide layer
produced by the steam oxidation is able to carry out its lubri-
cating function between the sliding surfaces. After removal of
the oxide layer by adhesion, two different wear mechanisms
are active according to the sliding speed: a delamination wear
mechanism at low sliding speed and a delamination-oxidation
mechanism at high sliding speed. In the latter case, the wear
rate is lower, the influence of the mechanical properties of
the matrix is reduced, and the behaviour of pure iron tends to
be comparable with that of the alloyed materials.
de Mello and Hutchings [9] studied the behaviour of sin-
tered and oxidized iron samples worn in reciprocating sliding
tests. They showed that during the wear tests fragmentation
of the oxide layer occurs. Besides, greatly deformed metallic
particles are produced from both the sample and the counter-
body. These particles become adherent to the worn surface,
generating a compacted layer of iron and iron oxide. The
gradual and localized degradation of this layer is the main
factor controlling the wear process. In the final stage of the
oxide layer removing process, loose and hard oxide debris
caused abrasive wear as well as localized fragmentation of
the compacted layer. These authors [9,10] showed that the
abrasive wear mechanism is the main degradation agent in
the final stage of the process.
Other authors [11–15] highlight the effect of the particles
presence on the global wear behaviour of oxidized sintered
materials. However only two works, Amsallem et al. [16] and
Razavizadeh and Davies [17], consider a direct approach to
abrasive wear behaviour.
In this paper, the effect of processing parameters (com-
paction pressure and powder size) on abrasive wear of steam-
treated sintered iron is analysed by means of micro-abrasion
tests. The micro-abrasion tests were conducted under con-
stant load and speed conditions while special emphasis was
given to the nature of the abrasive; two exogenous (Al2 O3
and SiO2 ) and one endogenous abrasive (Fe2 O3 ) were used.
2. Experimental procedure
Specimens were produced from Ancor Steel 1000B
Höganäs atomised iron powder. The powder was sieved into
four different fractions (<65, 65–90, 90–125 and >125 ␮m)
to provide four different powder grades (denoted 1–4, re-
spectively). After mixing with 0.8 wt.% zinc stearate as a lu-
bricant, the powders were compacted at four different com-
paction pressures (300, 400, 500, 600 MPa) with a double
action automatic press in such a way that the surfaces to be
tested were in contact with the moving punch.
The samples were designated as Axy where x is the com-
paction pressure (in MPa) divided by 100 and y the pow-
der grade. For example: A34 denotes a sample pressed at
300 MPa, with particle size >125 ␮m. The resulting com-
pacts, 50 mm in length by 10 mm in width with height de-
pending on compaction pressure and powder grade, were sin-
tered in an industrial furnace. The sintering was conducted
in a mildly reducing atmosphere (N2 + 10% H2 ) at a con-
stant temperature of 1120 ◦ C for 25–30 min. After cooling to
room temperature the samples were steam-treated. The steam
treatment was carried out at 540 ◦ C for 2 h in a continuous
industrial furnace.
The micro-structure of the samples used in this work
was comprehensively characterized in a previous paper by
de Mello et al. [6]. These authors studied both superficial
and volumetric aspects of the micro-structure. The micro-
structure is greatly dependent on the processing parameters
(compaction pressure and powder grade). Thickness of oxide
layer is nearly constant (3.5–4 ␮m) and independent of the
processing conditions used. X-ray diffraction showed that the

Table 1
Micro-structural characteristics [6]
Sample CPa (MPa) PGb Porosity (%) Pore size (␮m) MFPc (␮m) Oxide content (%) HV (kgf mm−2 )
A31 300 1 42.7 ± 3.3 14.8 ± 2.8 19 ± 8 29 ± 2 152 ± 4
A32 300 2 39.8 ± 3.8 15.1 ± 4.3 22 ± 8 27 ± 2 105 ± 4
A33 300 3 37.4 ± 1.2 15.5 ± 4.9 25 ± 9 20 ± 1 87 ± 2
A34 300 4 33.1 ± 3.4 15.8 ± 5.2 32 ± 0 19 ± 1 76 ± 2
A41 400 1 36.8 ± 2.0 13.5 ± 2.6 23 ± 2 22 ± 2 141 ± 1
A42 400 2 32.4 ± 2.3 14.2 ± 3.8 29 ± 6 20 ± 1 131 ± 2
A43 400 3 29.9 ± 1.7 14.6 ± 4.1 34 ± 1 16 ± 1 103 ± 3
A44 400 4 26.6 ± 1.9 14.4 ± 4.2 39 ± 8 15 ± 2 93 ± 4
A51 500 1 29.5 ± 1.1 7.9 ± 2.2 25 ± 3 18 ± 1 124 ± 2
A52 500 2 26.6 ± 1.3 9.5 ± 2.9 32 ± 6 14 ± 2 115 ± 2
A53 500 3 22.8 ± 3.2 10.6 ± 3.5 35 ± 8 14 ± 1 105 ± 3
A54 500 4 21.7 ± 1.4 10.9 ± 3.7 39 ± 2 12 ± 1 92 ± 2
A61 600 1 25.5 ± 1.8 6.8 ± 1.8 19 ± 8 14 ± 2 116 ± 2
A62 600 2 24.1 ± 1.2 7.4 ± 2.1 27 ± 3 10 ± 1 105 ± 3
A63 600 3 20.6 ± 1.6 8.1 ± 2.7 31 ± 1 10 ± 1 102 ± 1
A64 600 4 18.9 ± 1.6 8.4 ± 3.1 36 ± 1 9±1 98 ± 1
a Compaction pressure.
b Powder grade.
c Mean free path between pores.
168 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177

oxide layer is composed of magnetite (Fe3 O4 ) and haematite

(Fe2 O3 ) [6]. Other micro-structural parameters are synthe-
sized in Table 1.
Abrasive wear tests were carried out in a ‘free ball’ micro-
abrasion tester [18,19]. In this method, a sphere of radius R is
rotated against a specimen in the presence of a slurry of fine
abrasive particles. The geometry of the wear scar is assumed
to reproduce the spherical geometry of the ball, and the wear
volume may then be calculated by using Eq. (1):

πb4
k= for b << R (1)
64RSN

where k is the ‘wear coefficient’ with units m3 (N m)−1 ; b the

surface chordal diameter of the crater, S the sliding distance
and N the normal load on the contact.
In this variant of the experimental apparatus, the ball is
driven by friction from a drive shaft against which it rests,
and in which the load applied to the sample is essentially
due to the weight of the ball. Hard martensitic steel bearing
balls (20 mm in diameter) were used as a counter-body in all
tests. They were ultrasonically cleaned before each test and
induced a normal load of 0.22 ± 0.01 N, monitored by a load
cell.
The drive shaft rotation was kept constant at 150 rpm,
which represent a relative velocity between ball and sample
surfaces about 0.11 m s−1 .
In order to determine the permanent wear regime, sequen-
tial tests at a range of test times (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100,
120, 180, 240, 300 and 360 s) were carried out on the speci-
men at the same location. Three sets of test were performed
for each abrasive-sample pair.
Abrasive slurries of alumina (Al2 O3 ), silica (SiO2 ) and
haematite (Fe3 O4 ) particles suspended in distilled water were
used, at a concentration of 75 g of abrasive per cubic centime-
tre of water. The slurries were agitated continuously through-
out each test to prevent the settling of the abrasive particles.
A peristaltic pump fed slurry on to the top of the ball at a rate
of approximately 3 drops per minute.
The granulometric distribution of the abrasive particles
was determined by laser granulometry while their morphol-
ogy was shown by scanning electron microscopy.
The worn samples were examined by optical microscopy,
scanning electron microscopy and laser interferometry. Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of the abrasive particles as determined by
laser interferometry. (a) Haematite (Fe2 O3 ); (b) silica (SiO2 ); (c) alumina
(Al2 O3 ).

3. Results and discussion
The mean size of abrasives and their particle size distri-
butions as well as their morphology are shown in Fig. 1. The
haematite presents an asymmetric normal distribution and the
smallest mean particle size. The mean particle size increases
for silica and alumina, which presents the biggest particle
size. The same statistical distribution is presented by the sil-
ica particles while the alumina particles present a bi-modal
distribution. The shape of the silica and haematite particles
tends to be spherical while the alumina particles are more
elongated and sharper.
Fig. 2 presents a typical aspect of the craters produced by
the tests. It is clear that the test conditions impose a spherical
wear scar geometry, validating the use of Eq. (1) to determine
the wear coefficient by optically measuring the diameter of
the imposed spherical crater.
The evolution of the wear coefficient with test time is il-
lustrated in Fig. 3. This figure shows the results presented
by samples produced in the most extremes conditions of the
 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177
Fig. 2. Typical aspect of the craters obtained by laser interferometry. Sample A61, alumina, 360 s. (a) 3D surface; (b) trace AA. The trace of the theoretical
profile of a perfectly smooth sphere, 10 mm in diameter, is shown for comparison.
processing parameters when abraded by silica. They are typ-
ical of all the tested conditions. Wear coefficients were ob-
tained in three sets (Kt1, Kt2 and Kt3), of 13 tests each. The
mean value (M) was calculated and is also shown in the fig-
ure. The averaged crater depth (d) for each test time is also
included.
The wear coefficient increases in a random manner with
the test time up to 80 s. After that time the dispersion de-
creases and the evolution of the wear coefficient becomes
roughly constant. For the low compaction pressure, samples
A31 and A34, Fig. 3a and b, the initial transient is more accen-
tuated and the wear coefficient is stable for test times above
180 s. For the high compaction pressure, samples A61 and
A64, Fig. 3c and d, the stabilization of the wear coefficient is
reached after 100 s of test time. The permanent wear regime,
i.e. the stability of the wear coefficient was reached for all
tested conditions (sample/abrasive pair) after 180 s [20]. In
this paper, all the analyses were done in the permanent wear
regime. This regime is represented by an averaged wear co-
efficient (K), obtained by the averaging of the results relative
to the test times 180, 240, 300 and 360 s, e.g. this coefficient
is representative of an average of 12 tests carried out in each
sample/abrasive condition [20].
The crater depth increases logarithmically with test time
until the permanent wear regime is reached. In this regime,
the evolution of the crater depth with time is linear. For all tri-
bological conditions, the superficial oxide layer (3.5–4.0 ␮m
169
in thickness) had already been penetrated when the steady
state wear regime was established, suggesting that the micro-
abrasive wear process is governed by the substrate behaviour
in close correlation with the tribological conditions act-
ing at the final stages of the wear process of this fam-
ily of materials as reported by de Mello and Hutchings
[9].
Fig. 4 presents the effect of processing parameters on the
wear coefficient. For all abrasives, the smallest abrasive wear
coefficients were obtained by the combination of a high com-
paction pressure with a fine powder grade. In general, for the
same powder grade, an increase in compaction pressure led to
a decrease in the wear coefficient. On the other hand, for the
same compaction pressure an increase in powder size gave
rise to a slight decrease in the wear coefficient.
The effect of porosity on abrasive wear resistance is quite
complex as illustrated by Fig. 5. In general, for a fixed powder
grade, increasing porosity always caused an increase in the
wear coefficient. On the other hand, at constant compaction
pressure, an increase of porosity produced a decrease in the
wear coefficient.
Other micro-structural parameters like the mean free path
between pores and the amount of oxide formed on the in-
terconnected porosity showed a complex relationship with
abrasive wear resistance [20,21].
It is also noticeable in Fig. 4 that the nature of the abra-
sive has a strong influence on the abrasive wear behaviour
170 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177
Fig. 3. Evolution of the wear coefficient and crater depth with test time.
Silica. (a) A31; (b) A34; (c) A61; (d) A64.
of steam-treated sintered iron. The highest wear coefficients
were produced by alumina while abrasion by haematite pro-
duced the lowest wear coefficient. The general behaviour
can be more easily understood by analysing the influence
of the nature of abrasive on the wear coefficient of the sam-
ples produced when using the extreme processing parame-
ters, e.g. A31, A34, A61 and A64, Fig. 6. It can be seen in
Fig. 6 that the wear coefficient for sample A31 decreases in
the following sequence: alumina, silica and haematite. Sim-
ilar behaviour is observed for the wear coefficient of sample
Fig. 4. Effect of processing parameters on wear coefficient. (a) Haematite;
(b) silica; (c) alumina.
A34. For sample A61, wear coefficient decreases from alu-
mina to silica and then shows a slight decrease from silica to
haematite. On the other hand, sample A64 presents an approx-
imately constant wear coefficient for silica and haematite.
This fact suggests that the samples produced with small com-
paction pressure (300 MPa) are more sensitive to the type
of abrasive than the samples produced with higher com-
paction pressure (600 MPa). In all the studied cases, an in-
 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177 171

Fig. 5. Effect of porosity on wear coefficient. (a) Haematite; (b) silica; (c)
alumina.

crease in powder grade resulted in a small increase in the wear

coefficient.
As previously mentioned, the wear coefficient increases
as follow: haematite, silica and alumina. For the studied
tribo-systems, abrasive hardness and sample hardness ra-
tio (characterized as a volumetric property of the samples)
are very high, indicating that the abrasive process is the re-
sult of severe wear regime [22–24]. The relative hardness
(Habrasive /Hsample ) of the studied conditions decreases from

Fig. 7. Wear mechanisms. SEM. Centre of the crater. (a) Sample A64
abraded by alumina; (b) sample A61 abraded by silica; (c) sample A64
abraded by haematite.

Fig. 6. Wear coefficient as a function of the abrasive type.

172 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177
alumina (11.5–27) to silica (4.8–17) and then to haematite
(6.4–14). This decrease in severity correlates very well with
the wear coefficients presented by the studied samples e.g.
the higher the relative hardness (and as a consequence the
severity of the abrasive process) the higher the wear co-
efficient. In addition, Fig. 2 shows that alumina particles
present a sharp, angular, elongated geometry while the sil-
ica and haematite grits are blunted and spheroidal in shape.
It has been reported that particles with an angular shape
cause higher wear than spherical particles [22] thus induc-
ing an even more severe wear regime when using alumina
grits.
The severity of the wear system is also related to the abra-
sive size: an increase in abrasive mean size decreases the
number of particles present at the interface, thus promoting a
substantial increase on the force per abrasive particle. Fig. 2
shows that alumina grits have the largest mean diameter, fol-
lowed by silica and haematite, respectively. The greater the
Fig. 8. Wear mechanisms. (a) Surface of sample A61 abraded by silica,
0.22 N, 0.11 m s−1 , 360 s. (b) Worn surface of a real component after 2000
work hours.
abrasive size the greater the wear of the samples. Besides,
the individual load per abrasive particle is one of the most
important parameter controlling the wear mechanism acting
on the micro-abrasion process [25].
Fig. 7 shows typical aspects of the abraded surfaces and il-
lustrates the wear mechanism acting according to the nature
of the abrasive. When using alumina, the dominant mech-
anism was like that of a three-body process, in which the
abrasive particles roll between the two surfaces producing
a heavily deformed, multiply indented wear surface with no
evident directionality, Fig. 7a. On the other hand, a grooving
wear mechanism similar to a two-body mechanism was found
to be dominant for silica and haematite. This process occurs
in the micro-scale abrasion test when a significant proportion
of the particles slide without rolling at the specimen/ball in-
terface, thus producing a series of fine parallel grooves in the
specimen surface, Fig. 7b and c. Trezona et al. [25] suggested
that the abrasive particles are embedded in the surface of the
ball bearing and act as fixed indenters.
In addition, the analysis of the wear mechanisms showed
that those produced by silica grits remarkably reproduced the
Fig. 9. Influence of the hardness on wear coefficient. (a) Haematite; (b)
silica; (c) alumina.
 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177 173

Fig. 10. Typical aspects of abraded surfaces. Test time 360 s. SEM. (a) A31 abraded by SiO2 ; (b) A34 abraded by SiO2 ; (c) A61 abraded by SiO2 ; (d) A64
abraded by SiO2 ; (e) A31 abraded by Fe2 O3 ; (f) A34 abraded by Fe2 O3 ; (g) A61 abraded by Fe2 O3 ; (h) A64 abraded by Fe2 O3 .

wear mechanisms acting on the real conditions experienced
by steam-treated sintered iron components, Fig. 8. This sug-
gests that the use of micro-abrasion tests using the same tri-
bological conditions may constitute a powerful tool for the
optimisation of these components.
The correlation between hardness and abrasive wear is
quite complex too, Fig. 9.
For the exogenous abrasives (Al2 O3 and SiO2 ), increas-
ing the hardness produces a decrease in the wear coefficient,
which reaches a minimum, Fig. 9a and b. It can be noticed
that the samples associated with hardness values lower than
the value corresponding to the minimum in the wear coef-
ficient were produced by using the larger powder grades (3
and 4), while those associated with values above the min-
174 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177

imum were produced by using the smaller powder grades

(1 and 2).
For the endogenous abrasive (haematite), it is observed,
Fig. 9c, that the wear coefficient decreases with an increase
in hardness up to 106 kgf mm−2 . From this point, the wear
coefficient tends to be independent of the hardness and is as-
sociated with samples produced by using the smaller powder
grades (1 and 2). The relationship between hardness and pro-
cessing parameters is very complex as reported by de Mello
et al. [6]. These authors showed that decreasing powder size
always led to high hardness. Samples produced with smaller
powder size show a continuous decrease in hardness as the
compaction pressure increases, although for the large powder
size there is a slight increase to a constant value of ultimate
hardness. For the intermediate powder size a maximum hard-
ness is obtained as the compaction pressure increases. They
also reported that the resulting hardness of these samples is
the result of a compromise between the porosity and the oxide
content formed in the interconnected porosity.
Fig. 9 shows that the powder grade plays an important
role in the evolution of the wear coefficient with hardness
and suggests that a compromise between the hardness and
micro-structural features governs the micro-abrasive process.
Fig. 10 presents typical aspects of the abraded surfaces.
They correspond to the central part of the wear scar and to
samples produced in the most extreme conditions of process-
ing parameters e.g. samples A31, A34, A61 and A64 when
abraded by silica and haematite.
For all the studied conditions, the presence of open pores
on the abraded surface is clearly visible. For the specimens
produced by using the lowest compaction pressures, corre-
sponding to those presenting the biggest pore size, the quan-
tity of open pores is high; Fig. 10b, d, f and h. In addition,
they presented bigger open pores. The wear scar of the sam- Fig. 11. Effect of pore size on micro-abrasion wear coefficient. (a) Alumina;
ples abraded by alumina, although produced by a different (b) silica; (c) haematite.
wear mechanism (multiple indentation due to the rolling of
the abrasive particles on the interface) presented a similar cient is less sensitive to those parameters and is characterized
aspect concerning the open porosity existing in the abraded by its higher value.
surfaces. To study the mechanisms involved in the interactions of
The presence of open pores on the active surface is re- abrasive grits with pores, a subsidiary series of interrupted
ported to act as foci for the generation and trapping of wear tests was performed. These tests were interrupted at fixed
debris in sliding wear [9,14] suggesting that the open porosity, test times and the samples were slightly cleaned with a moist-
in particular the pore size, should play an important role on ened piece of cotton and then dried by an air stream. In the
the micro-abrasive behaviour of steam-treated sintered iron. sequence, the specimens were chemically attacked by a so-
The influence of the pore size on the wear coefficient is lution composed of 6.14 g of copper chloride (CuCl2 ), 3.86 g
presented in Fig. 11. of ammonium chloride (NH4 Cl) and 100 g of distilled water.
Abrasive wear coefficient was strongly affected by pore In these conditions, the solution is over saturated in aqueous
size. Fig. 11 shows that wear increases with pore size in all the CuCl2 (aq), which dissociates according to Eq. (2):
studied tribo-systems. This increase is more pronounced for CuCl2(aq) → Cu(aq) 2+ + 2Cl− (aq) (2)
pore size larger than 13 ␮m, corresponding to samples pro-
duced by using the smallest compaction pressures (300 and When this solution is applied, the iron present in the worn
400 MPa). It is also noticeable that the samples associated surface oxidizes according to Eq. (3) and the ion of copper
with the small powder, grade 4, presented a quite different may react with the free electrons according to Eq. (4) gen-
behaviour when abraded by haematite, Fig. 11c. Although a erating a solid copper layer, which is deposited on the worn
slight increase in wear coefficient is presented as pore size surface. This copper layer coats both the worn surface and
increases and compaction pressure decreases, the wear coeffi- the remaining abrasive grits allowing the analysis of their
 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177 175

Fig. 12. Typical aspects of the interactions between abrasive particles and pores. SEM. (a) A34 abraded by Al2 O3 , test time 10 s. (b) A34 abraded by Al2 O3 ,
test time 240 s. (c) A64 abraded by Al2 O3 , test time 10 s. (d) A64 abraded by Al2 O3 , test time 240 s. (e) A34 abraded by Fe2 O3 , test time 30 s. (f) A34 abraded
by Fe2 O3 , test time 240 s. (g) A61 abraded by Fe2 O3 , test time 30 s. (h) A61 abraded by Fe2 O3 , test time 240 s.
176 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177
distributions in the surface itself as well as their interactions
with the pores. After coating the samples with gold, they were
observed by scanning electron microscopy.
Fe(s) → Fe(aq) 2+ + 2e− (E0 = 0.44 V) (3)
Cu(aq) 2+ + 2e− → Cu(s) (E0 = 0.34 V) (4)
Fe(s) + Cu(aq) 2+ → Fe(aq) 2+ + Cu(s) (E0 = 0.78 V) (5)
In the early stages of the micro-abrasive wear process of sam-
ples presenting small pore size, abrasive grits are trapped in
the pores starting the process of pore closure, Fig. 12c and g,
while the larger pores, associated with the low compaction
pressure, remain open, Fig. 12a and e. As this family of sam-
ples is characterized by large pore size, even after reaching
the permanent wear regime up to the completion of the test,
some pores remained open at the surface, Fig. 12b and f,
enhancing the wear severity and thus producing high wear
coefficients. On the other hand, for the specimens present-
ing small pore size, the great majority of the pores are filled
with abrasive grits, Fig. 12d and h, thus reducing the wear
severity.
The capacity of our proposed technique to “freeze” the
dynamic conditions acting during the micro-abrasion pro-
cess is quite remarkable, in particular its ability to show
the surface distribution of the abrasive grits. The distribu-
tion of the “frozen” abrasive grits on the surface, Fig. 12b,
d, f and h, surprisingly reproduces their expected position
during the abrasive process, in particular the line up of the
grits when the particles are expected to slide on the inter-
face, e.g., the two-body like process. Ongoing work is in
course in order to further exploit this original feature of the
technique.
As reported in an early paper by de Mello et al. [6], the rela-
tionship between processing parameters and micro-structural
features is quite complex. Mainly at the lower compaction
pressure, pore size tends to increase slightly with powder
grade. In general, the pore size decreases as the compaction
pressure increases. There is evidence of a critical pressure
leading to two different magnitudes of pore size. For the lower
compaction pressure the pores are larger and little affected
by the powder grade. Increased compaction pressure causes
a substantial reduction in pore size as well as a stronger influ-
ence of powder grade on this parameter. Moreover, they re-
ported that for low-compaction pressures (300 and 400 MPa),
the pore size is almost independent of porosity and powder
grade. However, for the higher compaction pressures (500
and 600 MPa), an increase in porosity, which is normally
associated with a reduction in powder grade, produces a de-
crease in pore size. For the same powder size, the increasing
porosity, which arose from reducing the compaction pressure,
led to an increase which reached a constant value of pore size.
They also noticed that this threshold in porosity increases as
the compaction pressure increases.
In conclusion, for all the abrasives studied, although their
particle size may affect, in a quantitative way the mecha-
nism of pore closure, the micro-abrasive wear behaviour is
governed by a compromise between hardness and pore size.
Wear coefficient decreases with hardness up to a critical value
(roughly 110 kgf mm−2 ), Fig. 9. From this point, which corre-
sponds to a critical value in pore size, the hardness continues
to increase, the pore size also continues to increase, as shown
by Figs. 9 and 10, and negatively affects the wear resistance.
4. Conclusions
1. For all tribological conditions, the superficial oxide
layer had already been penetrated when the steady state
wear regime was established, suggesting that the micro-
abrasive wear process is governed by the substrate be-
haviour in close correlation with the tribological condi-
tions acting at the final stages of the wear process of this
family of materials;
2. For all abrasives, the smallest abrasive wear coefficients
were obtained by the combination of a high compaction
pressure with a fine powder grade. In general, for the same
powder grade, an increase in compaction pressure led to
a decrease in the wear coefficient. On the other hand, for
the same compaction pressure, an increase in powder size
gave rise to a slight decrease in the wear coefficient;
3. In general, for a fixed powder grade, porosity had a posi-
tive effect on the micro-abrasion wear coefficient. Increas-
ing porosity always caused an increase in the wear coeffi-
cient. On the other hand, at constant compaction pressure,
an increase of porosity produced a decrease in the wear
coefficient;
4. The nature of the abrasive had a strong influence on the
abrasive wear behaviour. This was explained in terms
of the severity of the abrasive process, which was anal-
ysed according to relative hardness, abrasive grit size and
shape. The highest wear coefficients were produced by
alumina while abrasion by haematite produced the lowest
wear coefficient;
5. The nature of the abrasive also controls the mechanism
acting on the different tribo-systems. When using alu-
mina, the dominant wear mechanism was multiple inden-
tation. On the other hand, a grooving wear mechanism
was found to be dominant for silica and haematite;
6. The proposed original methodology (based on the in situ
deposition of a thin layer of copper on slightly cleaned
abraded surfaces) successfully allowed further under-
standing of the mechanisms involved in the interactions
of the abrasive grits with pores and the role played by the
pores on the wear behaviour;
7. For all the abrasives studied, the micro-abrasive wear be-
haviour was governed by a compromise between hardness
and pore size. Wear coefficient decreases with hardness
up to a critical value (roughly 110 kgf mm−2 ). From this
point, which corresponds to a critical value in pore size, the
hardness continues to increase, the pore size also contin-
ues to increase and negatively affects the wear resistance.
 W.M. da Silva et al. / Wear 258 (2005) 166–177
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