Abstract
There are three major constituents, i.e. tempered martensite, retained austenite and primary carbides of Cr 7 C 3 and Cr 23 C 6 , in the microstructure of a D-2 tool steel. An abrasive wear test with SiC sand paper under two different loads was conducted on specimens having various contents of the above constituents in order to investigate their role in the wear characteristics. It is found that although the wear resistivity seems to vary with changing retained austenite content or hardness, the primary carbides, however, are more likely to be the dominating factor causing the weight loss, especially for wear under a relatively heavy load, From microstructural examination of the worn specimens, cracks and spallation initiated from the primary carbides were observed. Both of the primary carbides and retained austenite were massively removed from the worn surface layer. On the other hand, the role of retained austenite was significant only for the wear test under a light load. © 1988 Chapman and Hall Ltd.