Effect of Varying Loads on Wear Behaviour of Constructional Steel

This study examined the effect of varying loads on wear behaviour of Ife constructional steel. The wear measurements were determined under normal ranging from 5 to 25 N at interval of 5 N incremental. The morphology of the corroded samples were carried out using optical microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). When a load of 5 N was used, the wear was found to be mild with abrasion, adhesion and oxidation but at higher load of 15N, the wear was governed by delamination, oxidation and plastic deformation but with load 25 N, we noticed a severe crack propagation on the surface of the material. As the load increases the wear track length decreases resulting in the widening of the ploughing breadth. The COF of 5 N load oscillates to 0.60 and slides down to 0.47 at 80 sec and then oscillate uniformly to 1000 sec, however at 25 N, the waveform increases to 0.50 and slides down to 0.40 before oscillating to 1000 sec from this waveform it was clearly seen that the time to reach steady friction varies for different loads., the time for higher load to reach steady friction is less. This is because the surface roughness and other parameters attain a steady level at a shorter period of time with increase in load.