Empirical Comparison of Sliding Friction and Wear Behaviors of Gray and White Cast Iron

In this paper, sliding friction and wear behaviors of gray cast iron A35 and white cast iron manufactured by quenching from the same cast iron in water were studied and compared by employing pin-on-disk wear tests. Microstructure of the worn surfaces before and after the wear tests were investigated by optical microscope observations. These images show that flakes separated from the surface in gray cast iron due to delamination process, while in white cast iron, the separation of materials from its surface is in the form of powder. In addition, the gray cast iron had higher graphite volume fraction with Type-A graphite flake morphology. The results show that white cast iron has less rate of wear than gray cast iron due to the higher hardness. However, gray cast iron because of presenting graphite flakes in its surface (lubricant property) has lower average coefficient of friction.