Analysis of Tribological Properties of Powdered Tool Steels M390 and M398 in Contact with Al2O3

The present article examines special steels used for the production of injection screws in the plastic industry, with a glass fiber content of up to 30%. Experimental materials, M390 and M398, are classified as tool steels, which are produced by powder metallurgy-HIP methods (hot isostatic pressing). The main goal of the presented paper is to propose the optimal tempered temperature of M398 steel and also to compare the tribological properties of both materials and to determine the degree of their wear depending on their final heat treatment. Partial results refer to the analysis of hardness, roughness, the overall wear mechanism, the change in the volume of retained austenite due to the tempering temperature, and the EDS analysis of the worn surfaces in individual contact pairs. A ceramic ball Al2O3 in the α phase was used as the contact material, which had a diameter of 6.35 mm. The ceramic ball performed a rotational movement on the experimental material surface at an elevated temperature of 200 °C using the dry ball-on-disk method. It was experimentally shown that the new M398 material can fully replace the M390 material because it exhibits significantly better tribological properties. The M398 material showed more than a 400% reduction in wear compared to the M390 material. The ideal heat treatment consisted of cryogenic quenching to −78 °C and a tempering temperature of 400 °C. At tempering temperatures of 200 and 400 °C, adhesive wear occurred, which was combined with abrasive wear at a tempered temperature of 600 °C. The averaged coefficient of friction (COF) results show that the M398 material presents less resistance in the friction process and its values are approximately 0.25, while the M390 material showed a COF value of 0.3 after the cryogenic hardening process. The friction surface roughness of the M398 materials also showed lower values compared to the M390 material by approximately 35%. Both of these results are related to the content of M7C3 and MC carbide particles based on Cr and V in the bulk of the material, which are in favor of the M398 material.