Introduction of a novel tribometer especially designed for scratch,adhesion and hardness investigation up to 1000℃

Abstract

In order to gain a fundamental understanding of material behaviour at elevated temperatures a unique tribometer was designed which can operate at temperatures up to 1000℃. The test takes place in vacuum in order to avoid oxidation and the normal load range varies from 10 to 500 N. It is thus possible to describe the evolution of hardness over a broad range of temperatures and loads. This can give indications of possible microstructural modifications, which can be investigated afterwards on cross sections. For the characterisation of single abrasive phenomena on a very fundamental level, scratch tests at variable loads are proposed. The interaction of sliding surfaces can be simulated by adhesion testing. To this end an application specific counter body, e.g. taken from a field specimen, can be slid over the specimen surface at variable loads. Finally, it can be stated that this newly designed tribometer offers an enormous potential for deeper understanding of fundamental wear phenomena like ploughing, micro-breaking or adhesion occurring at high temperature. The possibilities of high temperature scratch and hardness testing with the new measurement system are shown on the common austenitic stainless steel 1.4301 (AISI 304).