Abrasive Wear Mechanisms in Steels

Abstract

Abrasive wear tests have been carried out on three steels and a number of pure metals using a pin-on-drum instrument. Each steel was tested at several different hardness levels attained by varying the heat treatment and while the results show a relationship between abrasion resistance and hardness, this was not the linear relationship found by Kruschov and others. Single point scratch experiments and scanning electron microscopy were carried out in an attempt to elucidate the wear mechanisms in these different materials and from the results a model is suggested to account for the observed wear behavior.