Effects of Temperature on the Fretting Wear Behavior of 2.25Cr-1Mo Tubes against Gr5C12 Rods

In the heat exchangers of sodium-cooled fast reactors, sodium flow can cause the tubes to vibrate, resulting in fretting wear damage due to the contact between the tubes (2.25Cr-1Mo steel) and their support plate (Gr5C12 alloy). In this work, the effects of temperature on the fretting wear behavior of a 2.25Cr-1Mo heat transfer tube on a Gr5C12 alloy rod were studied. The results showed that the coefficient of friction (COF) and wear volume increased first and then decreased with the increase in temperature. Moreover, 2.25Cr-1Mo showed great wear performance at high temperatures than at room temperature and 80 °C, because of the antifriction nature of the oxidative layer and the high hardness of the tribological transformed structure layer. As the temperature increased, material transfer and plastic deformation became increasingly obvious, but average wear depth decreased. This provides data support for the practical engineering application of 2.25Cr-1Mo steel at elevated temperatures. Wear mechanisms were found to depend modestly on temperature and largely on normal load. As temperature increases, the wear mechanism gradually changes from abrasive wear to adhesive wear.