Wear resistance of 20Cr2Ni4A alloy steel treated by laser shock peening and implantation of diamond nanoparticles

• Published in: Surface & coatings technology 2021-04, Vol.412, p.127070, Article 127070
• Main Authors: Lu, Heng, Ren, Yunpeng, Chen, Yan, Zhu, Hao, Xin, Zhiduo, Wan, Hanyu, Li, Zhiyu, Tu, Xincheng, Cheng, Li, He, Kun, Han, Qing, Ye, Yunxia, Ren, Xudong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 20Cr2Ni4A alloy steel; Alloy steels; Coefficient of friction; Diamond nanoparticle; Diamonds; Laser shock peening; Laser shock processing; Lasers; Nanohardness; Nanoparticles; Nickel chromium steels; Peening; Surface roughness; Wear mechanisms; Wear resistance
• ISSN: 0257-8972; 1879-3347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2021.127070

To reduce the wear of 20Cr2Ni4A alloy steel, a new method to implant diamond nanoparticles onto the surface by employing laser shock peening was presented. Studies demonstrated that with implanted diamond nanoparticles, the crater depth induced by laser shock peening was reduced by 23.7 μm. A lower surface roughness of 2.25 μm was obtained, which is 44.6% of the sample treated by laser shock peening only. The nano-hardness was as high as 4.93 GPa, which is 31% higher than the original samples. The coefficient of friction of 20Cr2Ni4A steel was reduced to 0.31 and the wear loss was reduced to 4 mg, which is only 50% of that of the original samples. The wear mechanism of the samples with implanted diamond nanoparticles was analyzed and provided new concepts and methods for solving the problem of wear failure. •The diamond nanoparticles were successfully implanted onto the surface of 20Cr2Ni4A alloy steel via LSWNI treatment.•Lower surface roughness of 2.25 μm was obtained via LSWNI, which is 44.6 % of samples treated by conventional LSP only.•After LSWNI treatment, the nano-hardness and elastic modulus could be as high as 4.93 GPa and 208.63 GPa, respectively.•The wear loss is reduced 50 % after treatment of LSWNI compared to untreated samples.