The unlubricated wear of sintered steels

The unlubricated wear of 10.3% porosity sintered medium-carbon and 12.8% porosity sintered low-alloy steels was investigated under different sliding conditions. Their wear characteristics were found to be similar to their non-sintered counterparts. Within this range of sliding conditions, both mild-oxidational and delamination wear took place, with the former dominating the wear processes. The oxide debris produced changed with the applied load: switching from a low-temperature oxide to a high-temperature one at higher loads. The wear rates agreed reasonably well with Archard's law and with data from other sources, suggesting that Archard's law can account for the wear rates produced by both mild-oxidational wear and delamination wear. This agreement also suggests that within the range of porosites investigated an overall framework can be established in the unlubricated wear of both sintered and non-sintered steels.     

Wear Behavior of Aluminum Alloys at Slow Sliding Speeds

The investigated slow sliding speeds presented in this work enable the understanding of the wear behavior on aluminum alloys and could possibly facilitate the completion of the previously proposed wear mechanism map for aluminum at this slow sliding speed range. Dry sliding block-on-ring wear tests were carried out on aluminum alloys, AA5754 (Al-Mg), AA6082 (Al-Mg-Si), and AA7075 (Al-Zn-Cu), at a very slow sliding speed range (<0.01 m/s). A bearing steel ring of AISI 52100 was used as the counterbody. Tests were performed at varying contact pressures, 20, 100, and 140 MPa, and sliding speeds ranging from 0.001 to 1.5 m/s. The wear tracks and debris collected were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), with the aim of analyzing their morphology and composition. At relatively slow sliding speeds (>0.01 m/s), the specimens exhibited a wear process placed at the mild wear regime, characterized by oxidation and delamination mechanisms of both the aluminum specimen and the steel ring. However, at very slow speed range (<0.01 m/s), an increase in the wear rate and the friction coefficient is observed for all of the aluminum alloys, thus suggesting that an alternative wear mechanism could be taking place.     

A predictive modeling scheme for wear in tribometers

Study of wear in complex micro-mechanical components is often accomplished experimentally using a pin-on-disc and twin-disc tribometer. The present paper proposes an approach that involves a computationally efficient incremental implementation of Archard's wear model on the global scale for modeling sliding and slipping wear in such experiments. It will be shown that this fast simplistic numerical tool can be used to identify the wear coefficient from pin-on-disc experimental data and also predict the wear depths within a limited range of parameter variation. Furthermore, it will also be used to study the effect of introducing friction coefficient into the wear model and also to model water lubricated experiments. A similar tool is presented to model wear due to a defined slip in a twin-disc tribometer. The resulting wear depths from this tool is verified using experimental data and two different finite element based numerical tools namely, the Wear-Processor, which is a FE post-processor, and a user-defined subroutine UMESHMOTION in the commercial FE package ABAQUS. It will be shown that the latter two tools have the potential for use in predicting wear and the effective life span of any general tribosystem using the identified wear coefficient from relevant tribometry data.     

Application of an energy wear approach to quantify fretting contact durability: Introduction of a wear energy capacity concept

A friction energy formalism is considered and adapted to formalize the fretting wear responses of adhesive wear and non-adhesive wear interfaces. It is shown that for non-adhesive wear tribocouples like hard coatings (TiN, TiC, etc.) the wear kinetics can be formalized using the accumulated friction dissipated energy. By contrast, adhesive wear contacts involving aluminium and titanium alloys display a critical dependance regarding the applied sliding amplitude. The wear kinetics of such systems is captured by considering a sliding reduced energy wear formulation. A combined composite energy wear formulation is then introduced to formalize the fretting wear response whatever the tribocouple behaviour. It is shown that a local approach, focusing on wear depth analysis, is required to predict interface durability. A FEM investigation demonstrates that the wear depth kinetics can be predicted by considering the accumulated energy density. It concludes that interface durability can be related to a single energy density capacity variable (χ) defined as the maximum accumulated energy density which can be dissipated in the interface before contact failure.     

Investigations on the influence of graphite filler on dry sliding wear and abrasive wear behaviour of carbon fabric reinforced epoxy composites

In this experimental study, the dry sliding wear and two-body abrasive wear behaviour of graphite filled carbon fabric reinforced epoxy composites were investigated. Carbon fabric reinforced epoxy composite was used as a reference material. Sliding wear experiments were conducted using a pin-on-disc wear tester under dry contact condition. Mass loss was determined as a function of sliding velocity for loads of 25, 50, 75, and 100 N at a constant sliding distance of 6000 m. Two-body abrasive wear experiments were performed under multi-pass condition using silicon carbide (SiC) of 150 and 320 grit abrasive papers. The effects of abrading distance and different loads have been studied. Abrasive wear volume and specific wear rate as a function of applied normal load and abrading distance were also determined.The results show that in dry sliding wear situations, for increased load and sliding velocity, higher wear loss was recorded. The excellent wear characteristics were obtained with carbon-epoxy containing graphite as filler. Especially, 10 wt.% of graphite in carbon-epoxy gave a low wear rate. A graphite surface film formed on the counterface was confirmed to be effective in improving the wear characteristics of graphite filled carbon-epoxy composites. In case of two-body abrasive wear, the wear volume increases with increasing load/abrading distance. Experimental results showed the type of counterface (hardened steel disc and SiC paper) material greatly influences the wear behaviour of the composites. Wear mechanisms of the composites were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. Wear of carbon-epoxy composite was found to be mainly due to a microcracking and fiber fracture mechanisms. It was found that the microcracking mechanism had been caused by progressive surface damage. Further, it was also noticed that carbon-epoxy composite wear is reduced to a greater extent by addition of the graphite filler, in which wear was dominated by microplowing/microcutting mechanisms instead of microcracking.     

Scale-dependent subsurface deformation of metallic materials in sliding

Using laser speckle decorrelation, TEM, optical microscopy and AFM we study deformation structures generated in subsurface layers of metals and alloys by sliding wear. Strain localization process in sliding wear as well as its effect on sliding-induced structures is considered. As shown, strain localization leads to intense fragmentation in subsurface layers and generation of shear bands in previously fragmented materials. These shear bands first exist at the microscale level under mild wear but may reveal at the mesoscale deformation level when there occurs mild-to-catastrophic wear mechanism transition. The result of such a transition is a thick (tens and hundreds of micrometers) nanocrystalline layer at the surface of metals. Hadfield steel shows another type of tribological behavior when only thin nano crystalline layer is formed. We relate such a behavior to the specificity of fragmentation in this steel. High wear resistance of high manganese steel is analyzed too.     

Simulating sliding wear with finite element method

Wear of components is often a critical factor influencing the product service life. Wear prediction is therefore an important part of engineering. The wear simulation approach with commercial finite element (FE) software ANSYS is presented in this paper. A modelling and simulation procedure is proposed and used with the linear wear law and the Euler integration scheme. Good care, however, must be taken to assure model validity and numerical solution convergence. A spherical pin-on-disc unlubricated steel contact was analysed both experimentally and with FEM, and the Lim and Ashby wear map was used to identify the wear mechanism. It was shown that the FEA wear simulation results of a given geometry and loading can be treated on the basis of wear coefficient−sliding distance change equivalence. The finite element software ANSYS is well suited for the solving of contact problems as well as the wear simulation. The actual scatter of the wear coefficient being within the limits of ±40–60% led to considerable deviation of wear simulation results. These results must therefore be evaluated on a relative scale to compare different design options.     

The influence of reciprocating sliding wear on the oxidation behaviour of Fe-12Cr steel

Medium-chromium ferritic alloys are used extensively in the boiler and core sections of advanced gas cooled reactors (AGRs). It was discovered in the early 1970s, that under certain conditions these alloys could undergo the phenomenon known as breakaway oxidation. In this type of oxidation the rate-limiting step is located at the oxide/metal interface rather than the more usual gas/oxide interface and results in linear oxidation kinetics. It has been shown that repeated removal of oxide layers can expose chromium-depleted metal to the oxidizing gas and promote nucleation of breakaway oxidation. The question has been addressed as to whether high temperature sliding wear processes can also disrupt the surface so as to make the material potentially susceptible to breakaway oxidation.High temperature reciprocating wear tests of Fe-12Cr material in both low and high pressure reactor gas have been caried out. As expected, compact adhesive load-bearing oxide and mixed oxide/metal beds form in wear regions. These contacting features wear at very low rates of less than 10⁻¹⁶m³ (Nm)⁻¹. It has also been demonstrated that preformed oxides wear at sufficiently low rates at high temperature as to preclude the possibility of exposure of the underlying metal to the reactor gas. It is thus unlikely that sliding wear processes will accelerate the tendency for initiation of breakaway oxidation.     

Thermomechanical wear modelling

It is assumed that the contact between bodies in sliding motion produces a stress field and frictional heat source that may induce severe wear from material yielding or fracture. For this situation, a thermomechanical wear model is used to develop a wear transition equation for identifying the dominant factors that will reduce or control such wear, by employing thermoelasticity analyses and contact mechanics. This equation is used to construct wear maps for ease of analysis. Studies are used to substantiate the thermomechanical wear model with experimental results that emphasise the transition from mild to severe wear for dry and lubricated metallic and ceramic sliding contacts under load.     

A Wear Model of Plane Sliding Pairs Based on Fatigue Contact Analysis of Asperities

Wear modeling is essential to predict and improve wear resistance of machine parts. This article presents a fatigue wear model of plane sliding pairs under dry friction. The wear model is constructed through developing a dynamic contact model of surfaces and proposing a mean fatigue damage constant of asperities. It is simpler and more practical than existing fatigue wear models because it describes the quantitative relationship between the wear behaviors of the plane sliding pairs and the main factors including the load and sliding speed, material property, friction property, and surface topography of the pairs. Furthermore, the wear model can predict the wear of each component of the sliding pairs. Reasonability and applicability of the wear model are validated via pin-on-disc wear tests. The wear model is applicable to predict the wear of the plane sliding pairs, which is characterized by friction fatigue of contact surfaces. The wear model can also be used to guide the tribological design of sliding pairs in machinery.     

Oxidative wear of heat-treated steels

In the present work, the oxidative sliding wear of a heat-treated steel at low-sliding velocities (less than 1 m/s) has been investigated. It has been shown that this type of wear can be described by a mechanism that considers the formation and agglomeration of oxide debris during sliding. The results have been modeled using available equations for two different types of oxidative wear and it has been shown that the model proposed by Sullivan and Hodgson can be used to predict the sliding wear rate of heat-treated steels in the low-sliding velocity wear regime. In this context, the important role of the surface bulk temperature is highlighted. In view of the above consideration, it is also pointed out that wear maps, developed from laboratory test results, have to be critically used for the design of tribological systems.     

Wear of spheroidal graphite cast irons for tractor drive train components

This study was prompted by a desire to improve the wear resistance of power transmission components in rear axle drives on commercial farm tractors. Reciprocating wear tests were conducted under lubricated and non-lubricated conditions on three spheroidal cast irons which varied in strength and hardness (designated GGG450, GGG600, and GGG700). Hemispherically tipped steel pins (designated 42CrMoS4/41CrS4) were used as the sliders. Except for the selection of the test duration, test procedures were similar to those described in ASTM Standard Test Method G133 for linearly reciprocating sliding. Among the three cast irons tested, the harder and stronger the alloy, the lower was its wear rate. Wear factors were approximately four orders of magnitude lower for experiments lubricated with fresh, fully formulated oil. There was a linear relationship between the Brinell hardness of the alloys and the negative logarithm of the wear factors that were expressed in mm³/N-m. Wear of lubricated test pins was not measurable due to the presence of deposits; however under non-lubricated sliding, the ratio of the wear of the flat specimen to that of the pin decreased as the hardness of the flat specimens approached that of the pin specimen.     

Modelling sliding wear: From dry to wet environments

Corrosive species in various forms exist widely in the environment and can significantly affect wear behaviour of materials, usually accelerating wear. Under conditions where the environments are seemingly non-deleterious in terms of corrosivity, some species from the environment can still affect the tribological behaviour of materials. It is thus extremely important to recognise the roles of reactive species in affecting the tribological processes and to understand the processes of tribo-corrosion interactions. In this paper, the mechanisms of wear debris generation and the roles of reactive species in the generation of wear debris during sliding wear in gaseous or aqueous environments are discussed. The effect of environment on the development of wear-protective layers is described. Based on the proposed mechanisms, mathematical models for sliding wear in both dry and aqueous environments are outlined, and the validity of the models is assessed against experimental data in sliding conditions.     

Relations of counterface materials with stability of tribo-oxide layer and wear behavior of Ti–6.5Al–3.5Mo–1.5Zr–0.3Si alloy

Dry sliding wear tests of Ti–6.5Al–3.5Mo–1.5Zr–0.3Si alloy (TC11 alloy) sliding against AISI 52100 and AISI M2 steels were performed under the load of 50–250 N at 25–600 °C. For two kinds of counterface materials, the titanium alloy presented totally different wear behaviours as the function of temperature. The appreciable variations of the titanium alloy sliding against different counterface materials were attributed the fact that a hard counterface caused unstable existence of tribo-layers by its microcutting action, thus resulting in the increase of wear rate. It is suggested that the hard counterface must be avoided as the counterface for the titanium alloy/steel sliding system.     

A New Roughness Parameter Including Hardness and Contact Frequency Effects on Lubricated Rolling/Sliding Wear

Surface roughness, roughness arrangement, film thickness, material hardness, and run-in process have significant effects on the lubricated rolling/sliding wear of mechanical components such as gears and bearings. In conventional analysis, a film thickness parameter is calculated by a geometric approach to study the wear resistance of a contact system without considering the effects of material hardness and run-in process. Although the conventional parameter is simple, it does not correlate with some experimental observations. In this work, a new roughness parameter is developed for the prediction of lubricated rolling/sliding wear. Surface roughness will be adjusted by its hardness and contact frequency. The calculation results are consistent with four groups of experimental data. It is proved that the conventional models can be derived as a special case of the new model when two contact surfaces have the same properties. The new model can be used in the optimal design and manufacturing of mechanical interfaces to reduce lubricated rolling/sliding wear.     

Ceramic wear maps

Ceramic wear maps have been developed to elucidate the complex interactions of the operating parameters, environments, and wear mechanisms. This paper summarizes these interactions for four ceramics, alumina, yttria-doped zirconia, silicon carbide and silicon nitride. Wear maps of these ceramics are systematically constructed using measured data under dry sliding, water, and paraffin lubricated conditions. For each material, different wear level regions acid wear transition zones are identified as a function of operating conditions and lubrication conditions. Wear mechanism studies performed within each wear region give rise to the wear mechanism maps. These maps facilitate material comparison and selection. The knowledge of wear, wear transitions, and wear mechanisms for a material pair enables realistic wear model development. One outcome of this approach is the recognition that a single wear model for a material pair cannot cover all operating conditions and environments.

As wear maps are constructed today, they are material pair specific. Within a material pair, there are microstructural dependence and surface properties influence. These parameters can change substantially for a given chemical composition of the material. How to incorporate these factors into the wear map research remains an issue. The search for a universal parameter such as the “asperity temperature” in Ashby's wear map continues in spite of mounting evidence that this may not be practical or feasible. But the hope remains that some parameters can be identified to normalize a large number of materials, operating conditions, and environments for tribological applications. Systematic wear maps are the first steps in this direction.     

Sliding friction and wear of magnesium alloy AZ91D produced by two different methods

Alloy AZ91D is a leading magnesium alloy used for structural applications. It contains aluminum and zinc as principal alloying elements. This alloy is normally die-cast, but recent developments in semi-solid injection molding (Thixomolding^®), which offers certain processing advantages, produces a slightly different microstructure than die-casting, and it was of interest to determine whether the two processing routes would measurably affect the friction and wear of AZ91D. The present work involved ambient air, room temperature testing of die-cast (DC) and Thixomolded^® (ThM) AZ91D, in both unidirectional and reciprocating sliding motion, using stainless steel type 440C as the counterface. After running-in, the average sliding friction coefficients in both types of test fell into the range of 0.29–0.35, irrespective of processing method. The formation of a built-up edge raised the friction slightly in unidirectional tests compared with reciprocating tests. The average wear rate of the ThM alloys in reciprocating sliding was approximately 25% lower than that for DC alloys. However, the wear rates of the magnesium specimens in unidirectional sliding were comparable for DC and ThM materials. Owing to the transfer of magnesium, there was no measurable wear on the stainless steel 440C balls. The wear mechanism during sliding involves the formation of thin, narrow shards along the edges of wear grooves which break off to produce loose particles.     

Mapping the role of Cr content in dry sliding of steels: Comparison between maps for material and counterface

In this work, a study of the wear transition regimes was carried out for a pin-on-disk sliding couple, involving two steels of different hardness and Cr contents. Dry sliding wear behaviour of the more highly alloyed stainless steel was dominated by adhesive wear and tribo-oxidation at relatively low sliding speeds and by mixed and adhesive wear at high speeds and loads. In contrast, oxidative wear was more predominant for the lower alloyed steel. The individual wear maps generated for the individual components i.e. material and counterface are discussed in the context of the wear mechanisms observed in the tribological contact.     

Friction and Wear Characteristics Due to Stick-Slip under Fretting Conditions

Friction and wear characteristics between two steel surfaces under fretting conditions are investigated experimentally. The fretting damage caused by low-amplitude oscillatory sliding can be classified into three regimes of gross-slip, mixed-slip, and partial-slip due to the stick-slip phenomenon. One of the most important characteristics of fretting wear is the transition from gross-slip to mixed-slip. Several criteria have been introduced for a quantitative determination of the transition between mixed-slip and gross-slip. However, the transition criteria have some problems in determining the regimes because parameters are difficult to calculate or depend on the system. To introduce new transition criteria in this study, the phase difference between friction force and relative displacement is used to determine the transition and predict the fretting wear. It is found that the phase difference with a range of 0° to 90° can predict the onset of fretting conditions.     

Wear characteristics of titanium alloy Ti54 for cryogenic sliding applications

Cryogenic wear behaviour of Ti-5Al-4V-0.6Mo-0.4Fe (Ti54) alloy sliding against tungsten carbide is investigated at different speeds, loads and distances. Empirical models based RSM are developed to predict wear characteristics of Ti54 alloy as a function of sliding conditions. It is found that experimental and predicted results are in good agreement. Besides, cryogenic wear is substantially lower than dry wear. SEM and EDS analyses of worn surfaces and wear debris reveal that cryogenic sliding is significantly influenced by changing material properties along with boundary lubrication performance. The study has shown that modes in dry sliding are adhesion and delamination whereas in cryogenic sliding they are abrasion and delamination.