Wear performance of ductile iron after electrolytic plasma hardening

Abstract

This study aimed to improve the tribological behavior of electrolytic plasma treated (EPT) ductile iron (DI). For this purpose, ductile iron was electrolytic plasma hardened under different processing parameters (treatment time and thermal cycle). Three different types of specimens were tested: untreated DI, electrolytic plasma hardened DI and remelted DI by two type wear test. It was found that remelted DI performed much better concerning wear resistance than the other samples. The microstructure of the hardened specimens was investigated using optical microscopy. Microhardness profiles and surface hardness were investigated via the Rockwell test. The microstructure and hardness of the EPT hardened layer were dependent on the processing parameters, with the hardness values reaching the range 880-1080 +/- 10 HV0.2.