Effect of Surface Impacting Parameters on Wear Resistance of High Manganese Steel

High manganese steel has always been subjected to pre-hardening treatment before use owing to its low initial strength. Therefore, cast high manganese steel was pre-hardened in this work by surface impacting treatment under different parameters to evaluate its state. The microstructures, hardening characteristics, and wear resistances of the pre-hardened high manganese steel samples were all investigated. The results indicated that increasing the sample temperature, reducing the impact pin size, and increasing the impact times on a single-point can enhance the surface hardening effect to different degrees. Dislocations and deformation twins were produced on the top surface and within a certain depth of test steel under different impacting conditions. The optimal hardening effect of test steel was achieved at a temperature of 300 °C, a pin size of 10 × 10 mm2, and 9 impacts on a single point. The surface hardness of the treated sample reached 542 HV. For friction and wear testing, the best wear resistance was achieved at a temperature of 300 °C, a pin size of 10 × 10 mm2, and 3 impacts on a single point with a surface hardness of 446 HV. Further enhancement in impact hardening effect resulted in microcracking along the surface of test steel. In turn, the induced embrittlement led to the poor wear resistance.