Understanding Wear

What exactly is wear? For many products, it is easy to identify something that is worn. But understanding how it
got to that state is not as simple! ASTM International defines wear as "damage to a solid surface (generally
involving progressive loss of material), caused by the relative motion between that surface and a contacting
substance or substances". In most instances, the material removal is a gradual process and the motion is a
repetitive action.
Wear is a complex phenomenon that is influenced by many parameters. These include, but are not limited to:
 contact geometry
 length of exposure
 interacting material surfaces
 normal force
 sliding speed
 environmental conditions
 material composition and hardness
Depending on the materials involved, the product and/or contacting surfaces may appear to be relatively smooth.
In actuality, there are asperities that form the contact junctions of the materials. Similar to the peaks and valleys
shown in the diagram, these asperities support the load and tend to deform when the surfaces slide over one
another. With repeated movement, material is eventually removed from one or both surfaces.

Wear versus Abrasion The terms wear and abrasion are frequently used interchangeably, but there is a difference.
Abrasion is the action that causes wear, and defined by ASTM as "the wearing away of any part of a material by
rubbing against another surface". Wear abrasion is removal of a portion of the surface by some kind of mechanical
action: rubbing, sliding back and forth of an object, wear of tires on traffic paint, wind erosion, and so on. Mar
abrasion is the permanent deformation of a surface but the deformation does not break the surface.
Types of Wear
The type of relative motion is often used to define the wear that is generated.  Because of its complexity, a number
of wear modes have been recognized. 
Abrasive wear – Wear due to hard particles or hard protuberances forced against and moving along a solid
surface.  These hard particles might be commercial abrasives like silicon carbide and aluminum oxide, or naturally
occurring contaminates like dust particles and sand [crystalline silica (quartz)].  If the abrasive particles are
allowed to roll, rolling abrasion or three-body abrasion occurs.

Adhesive wear –  Wear due to localized bonding between contacting solid surfaces leading to material transfer
between the two surfaces or loss from either surface.  Adhesive wear is not as prevalent as abrasive wear and is
induced when like materials slide against each other with no lubrication.  This type of wear involves the formation
of local cold welds between surfaces contacting under a load and tangential shearing or plowing of the junctions. 
Material can be transferred from one surface to the other during this process.

Catastrophic wear – Rapidly occurring or accelerating surface damage, deterioration, or change of shape caused
by wear to such a degree that the service life of a part is appreciably shortened or its function is destroyed.

Corrosive wear – Wear in which chemical or electrochemical reaction with the environment is significant.

Crocking – A transfer of color from the surface of a colored fabric to an adjacent area of the same fabric, or to
another surface principally by rubbing action.

Cutting wear – In solid impingement erosion, the erosive wear associated with the dissipation of kinetic energy of
impact arising from the tangential component of the velocity of the impacting particles
Deformation wear – In solid impingement erosion, the erosive wear of a material associated with the dissipation
of kinetic energy of impact arising from the normal component of the velocity of the impacting particles.  It is
therefore the sole component of wear for particles impacting at a 90-degree angle of attack.

Erosion - Damage caused by particulate in gases or liquids striking a surface.

Erosive wear – Progressive loss of original material from a solid surface due to mechanical interaction between
that surface and a fluid, multi-component fluid, or impinging liquid or solid particles.

Fatigue wear – Wear of a solid surface caused by fracture arising from material fatigue.

Fretting wear – Wear arising as a result of fretting [where fretting, in tribology, involves a small amplitude
oscillatory motion, usually tangential, between two solid surfaces in contact].

Frosting – A change in color in a limited area of fabric caused by abrasive wear.

Impact wear – Wear due to collisions between two solid bodies where some component of the motion is
perpendicular to the tangential plane of contact.

Mar abrasion – Permanent deformations that have not ruptured the surface of a coating, but tend to disfigure or
change the appearance of its surface. 

Pitting – A form of wear characterized by the presence of surface cavities, the formation of which is attributed to
processes such as fatigue, local adhesion, or cavitations.

Rolling wear – Wear due to the relative motion between two non-conforming solid bodies whose surface velocities
in the nominal contact location are identical in magnitude, direction and sense.

Rolling abrasion – A form of abrasion that occurs when abrasive particles or debris are allowed to “roll” between
the surface and a contacting substance (also see three-body wear). 

Scoring – A severe form of wearing characterized by the formation of extensive grooves and scratches in the
direction of sliding.

Scratching – The mechanical removal or displacement, or both, of materials from a surface by the action of
abrasive particles or protuberances sliding across the surfaces.  Typically in the form of a line, caused by the
relative movement of an object across and in contact with the surface.

Scuffing – A form of wear occurring in inadequately lubricated tribo-systems that is characterized by

macroscopically observed changes in surface texture with features related to the direction of relative motion.

Sliding wear – Wear due to the relative motion in the tangential plane of contact between two solid bodies. 
Typically recognized by linear grooves that are generated from a reciprocating or unidirectional contact.

Three-body wear – A form of abrasive wear in which wear is produced by loose particles introduced or generated
between the contacting surfaces.

Two-body abrasive wear – A form of abrasive wear in which the hard particles or protuberances that produce
the wear of one body are fixed on the surface of the opposing body.

Wear – Damage to a solid surface, generally involving progressive loss of material, due to relative motion between
that surface and a contacting substance or substances.

SUMMARY
Undesirable removal of material from operating solid surface is known as wear. There are two
definitions : 

(1) Zero wear : Removal of material which causes polishing of material surfaces may be known as
"Zero wear". It may increase performance. It is for betterment, so it is not undesirable. Zero wear
of helical gear.
(2) Measurable wear : Removal of material from surface that increases vibration; noise or surface
roughness may be treated an "Measureable wear". Often we measure wear in volume/mass reduction.
Undesirable removal of material occurs in measurable wear. Pitting, abrasion etc.

Wear Mechanisms :
 
Wear can be classified based on the ways that the frictional junctions are broken, that is, elastic
displacement, plastic displacement, cutting, destruction of surface films and destruction of bulk
material. There are many types of wear mechanisms, but we shall discuss about common wear
mechanisms, which are: 

• Abrasive Wear : polishing, scouring, scratching, grinding, gouging.

• Adhesive Wear : galling, scuffing, scoring.

• Cavitation (interaction with fluid).

• Corrosive Wear (Chemical nature).

• Erosive Wear.

• Fatigue : delamination.

• Fretting Wear.