Effects of Primary Carbide Size and Type on the Sliding Wear and Rolling Contact Fatigue Properties of M50 Bearing Steel

The influences of primary carbide size and type on the sliding wear behavior and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) properties of M50 bearing steel were systematically investigated under oil lubrication condition. A major breakthrough was achieved in the influence of primary carbide on tribological behavior. The opposite effect brought by primary carbide size on the sliding wear resistance and RCF life of M50 bearing steel was determined. Wear resistance increased with an increase in the studied primary carbide size, whereas RCF life decreased significantly. Compared with the 0 R and R positions with a relatively small carbide size, the wear volume of the 1/2 R position with a large carbide size was the smallest. Compared with the 0 R and R positions, the L10 life of the 1/2 R position decreased by 82.7% and 84.8%, respectively. On the basis of the statistical correlation between primary carbide size and the two tribological properties, a critical maximum carbide size of 5-10 μm was proposed to achieve optimal tribological performance. This research suggests that the equivalent diameter of the primary carbide should be controlled to be smaller than 10 μm, but further decreasing primary carbide size to less than 5 μm is unnecessary. The influence of primary carbide type in M50 bearing steel on sliding wear resistance was also discussed. Results indicate that the MC-type carbides with higher elastic modulus and microhardness exhibit better wear resistance than the M2C-type carbides.

Particle Size and Crystal Phase Effects in Fischer-Tropsch Catalysts

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis （FTS） is an increasingly important approach for producing liquid fuels and chemicals via syngas-that is, synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen-generated from coal, natural gas, or biomass. In FTS, dispersed transition metal nanoparticles are used to catalyze the reactions underlying the formation of carbon-carbon bonds. Catalytic activity and selectivity are strongly correlated with the electronic and geometric structure of the nanoparticles, which depend on the particle size, morphology, and crystallographic phase of the nanoparticles. In this article, we review recent works dealing with the aspects of bulk and surface sensitivity of the FTS reaction. Understanding the different catalytic behavior in more detail as a function of these parameters may guide the design of more active, selective, and stable FTS catalysts.

Precipitation Strengthening by Nanometer-sized Carbides in Hot-rolled Ferritic Steels

The mechanical properties of the hot-rolled plates of Ti steel and Ti-Mo steel after isothermal transformation in a temperature range of 600 700 ℃ for 60 min have been tested, and the microstructures of the matrix and the characteristics of precipitated nanometer-sized carbides have also been examined by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The precipitation regularity of nanometer-sized carbides has been studied by thermodynamic method and the contributions of corresponding strengthening mechanisms to the total yield strength have been calculated. The tensile strength of hot-rolled Ti-Mo ferritie steel can achieve 780 MPa with an elongation of 20.0% after being isothermally treated at 600 ℃ for 60 rain, and the tensile strength of Ti steel is 605 MPa with an elongation of 22.7%, according to the results of tensile tests. The critical nucleation size of （Ti,Mo）C is smaller than that of TiC at a given isothermal temperature, but the nucleation rate of （Ti, Mo）C is larger than that of TiC. The grainrefinement strengthening and precipitation strengthening contribute the main amount of the total yield strength. The major increase in yield strength with the decrease of isothermal temperature results from the contribution of precipi tation strengthening. The contribution of precipitation strengthening to the yield strength of the steels has been esti mated. The ferrite phase can be strengthened by about 400 MPa through precipitation strengthening in Ti-Mo steel isothermally treated at 600 ℃ for 60 rain, which is about 200 MPa higher than that of Ti steel under the same conditions.

Comparison of microstructure and property of high chromium bearing steel with and without nitrogen addition

Microstructure and property of bearing steel with and without nitrogen addition were investigated by microstructural observation and hardness measurement after different heat treatment processing. Based on the microstructural observation of both 9Cr18 steel and X90N steel, it was found that nitrogen addition could effectively reduce the amount and size of coarse carbides and also refine the original austenite grain size. Due to addition of nitrogen, more austenite phase was found in X90N steel than in 9Cr18 steel. The retained austenite of X90N steel after quenching at 1050℃ could be reduced from about 60% to about 7 9% by cold treatment at -73℃ and subsequent tempering, and thus finally increased the hardness up to 60 HRC after low temperature tempering and to 63 HRC after high temperature tempering. Furthermore, both the wear and corrosion resistance of X90N steel were found much more superior than those of 9Cr18 steel, which was attributed to the addition of nitrogen. It was proposed at last that nitrogen alloying into the high chromium bearing steel was a promising way not only to refine the size of both carbides and austenite, but also to achieve high hardness, high wear property and improved corrosion resistance of the stainless bearing steel.