Abrasion wear is an extensive problem for stainless steels. In the on-going effort to increase the knowledgebase on abrasion, Expanite requested Bud Labs to measure the dry abrasion characteristics of untreated and Expanite treated samples of austenitic AISI316L using the ASTM G 65 Procedure.
The ASTM G 65 Procedure is a standard test method for measuring abrasion using the dry sand/rubber wheel apparatus where weight loss is used as an indicator for the wear resistance; the less the better.
The 316L with SuperExpanite is more abrasion resistant than the untreated sample approximately reducing abrasive wear by more than 60%.
The Expanite treatment effectively removes the oxide film covering stainless steels. This allows controlled incorporation of carbon and nitrogen atoms in the underlying metal. The hardened layer is characterized by an expansion of the material structure.
With the Expanite process it’s possible to increase the surface hardness of stainless steels by up to 10 times, while maintaining or even enhancing corrosion resistance. This method is considered unique since it’s suitable for austenitic-, ferritic-, martensitic and duplex stainless steels.
