## 4 Discussion  
The conducted tribological wear studies of high-carbon iron alloys, resulting from various annealing times within the austenitizing temperature range, reveal significant complexity. In the initial phase of the research, the focus was on the influence of variables such as the applied load and test duration on the tribological wear of the material. It was observed that extending the test duration and increasing the applied load generally led to higher tribological wear of the materials, which aligns with the expected intensification of the wear process. However, the considerable variability in the results made it challenging to analyze correlations between tribological test parameters and heat treatment conditions. Consequently, statistical tools were employed to identify parameters with a significant impact on the material's wear resistance as a function of heat treatment time. The analysis revealed that neither the applied load nor the test duration, despite observable differences, showed statistically significant variations in terms of mass loss or friction coefficient. Significant statistical differences were only observed in the depth of wear when using a profilometer, depending on the applied load during the tribological test. Increased load directly influenced the average depth of wear. Analyzing the volumetric wear in the blocking-ring tribological setup was notably challenging due to the changing contact geometry of the materials during the test. Initially, the materials were in linear contact, which eventually transitioned to conformal contact, altering loading conditions and affecting wear dynamics. Additionally, the fixture used in the T-05 tribotester allows for the plastic flow of the material parallel to the contact surface. This could significantly increase the depth of wear, especially in materials with low hardness. High applied loads may have promoted the plastic flow of the material, as observed by the increase in wear depth. Therefore, significant statistical differences in wear depth were noted with different applied loads during the tests. Surface analysis of wear confirmed the dominant mechanisms of micro-cutting and micro-grooving, as well as material delamination. The presence of deep grooves suggests they may have resulted from contact with carbides in the microstructure of the counter-sample and the influence of wear products on the contacting surfaces. However, the significance of wear products in the tests is limited due to their continuous removal from the contact areas. No changes in the wear mechanism were observed depending on either the heat treatment variant or the tribological test parameters. This suggests that, under the given conditions, the material exhibited high wear resistance. Further analyses indicated increasing resistance to abrasive wear with longer annealing times, with significant statistical differences observed between samples annealed for 4 h and the other heat treatment variants. For the friction coefficient, an increase was noted with longer annealing times. The relationship between annealing time and wear depth was similar to that observed for mass loss, although it exhibited high result variability. The stable wear of the material under different tribological test conditions suggests that the primary factor affecting wear resistance is the material's microstructure. Microscopic examinations revealed that the materials are characterized by a pearlitic matrix with secondary cementite precipitates. Significant differences were observed in the distribution of precipitate sizes. Longer annealing times led to the dissolution of smaller carbide particles, resulting in a dominance of larger particles in the material.