Tribological behavior of 304 L stainless steel used for olive oil extraction

Laboratoire de Génie des Matériaux et Environnement, LGME, Engineering school of Sfax, ENIS, University of Sfax B.P. 1173, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia

^a Corresponding author: fatma.ben.saada@hotmail.com

Received: 2 March 2016
Accepted: 14 September 2016

Abstract

Failure of equipment for processing olives interrupted oil production after only three weeks due to tribocorrosive wear of stainless steel components. Tribological behavior of 304 L stainless steel sliding against 52 100 steel was determined using a pin on disc tester. Tribological tests have shown that both normal load and rotating speed have a distinct effect on friction and wear behavior of the studied steel. An abrasive wear mechanism and plastic deformation of stainless steel on the wear track were investigated via an optical microscopy analysis. The concept of dissipated energy showed a significant correlation between the mass loss and the dissipated energy during the contact of the friction test. Then tribological behavior of 304 L stainless steel sliding against olive wood was studied. The steel was sensitive to tribo-oxidation, mostly due to abrasion by wood which presents a similar material to olive seed.