Wear

Introduction of Wear:
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 is basically a polishing process in which the asperities of the
contacting surfaces are gradually worn off until a very fine, smooth
surface develops. Generally, “polishing-in” wear is desirable for better
life of tribo-pair.
Fig. shows polished surface of helical gear which occurs due to slow
loss of metal that will have a little effect on the satisfactory
performance within the life of the gears.
(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.
Measurable wear refers to a loss of material which must be counted
to estimate the life of tribo-pair. The extent of measurable wear
depends on the lubrication regime, the nature of the load, the
surface hardness and roughness, and on the contaminants in the
lubricating oil. A typical example of measurable wear in helical gear
is shown in Fig. which is typically known as pitting wear.
Pitting is a surface fatigue failure which occurs due to repeated
loading of tooth surface and the contact stress exceeding the surface
fatigue strength of the material. Material in the fatigue region gets
removed and a pit is formed. The pit itself will cause stress
concentration and soon the pitting spreads to adjacent region till the
whole surface is covered with pits. Subsequently, higher impact load
resulting from pitting may cause fracture of already weakened tooth.
Sometimes impurities in materials provide nucleus for crack
generation as shown in Fig.(c). Fig.(d) shows merger of generated
cracks, which finally detaches from the surface as shown in Fig.(e).
Such formation of pits (removal of material) comes under
measurable wear.
Many time the change in surface profile alters the optimum value of
clearance and reduces load capacity of machine components.
Fig. shows worn out rollers. Sliding to rolling ratio for these worn out
rollers increase with wear rate and usage of rolling element bearing
loses its purpose.
Fig. shows variation in bearing clearance due to abrasion of the
bearing surface. With increase in bearing clearance load capacity of
bearing decreases as shown in Fig.
X-axis of Fig. represents radial clearance which is given by 0.1% of
radius multiplied with the factor depicting increase in clearance due
to wear.
Removal of material from operating solid surfaces by solid particles
depends upon Load, Velocity, Environment, and Materials. Removal
of material from operating solid surface by Fluid (liquid/gas)
depends upon Velocity, pressure, Environment and material.
As wear increases power losses increases, oil consumption
increases, rate of component replacement also inreases. Ultimately,
it reduces efficiency of the system. Therefore, as far as possible
wear should be minimized.
 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.
 Adhesive Wear
Adhesive wear is very common in metals.
It is dependent on the mutual affinity between the materials.
Let us take example of steel and indium [Fig.(a)]. When steel pin under
load is pushed [Fig.(b)] in indium block, and subsequently retracted [Fig.
(c)], a thin layer of indium transferred on the steel pin. Similar behavior is
observed by pushing brass metal in indium metal. This behavior
demonstrates the loss of indium material, which occurs due to high value
of adhesive force between steel and indium. If steel pin is subjected to
normal load as well as tangential load [Fig.(d)] then severe wear of indium
material occurs. By introducing a thin layer of lubricant at the interface of
indium and metal, the severe wear can be reduced to mild wear. Shear
strength of lubricant layer is much smaller than shear strength of indium
metal, therefore weak interface between steel and indium occurs which
can be sheared easily and wear rate reduces to mild value.
All theories which predict wear rates start from the concept of true
area of contact.
It is usually assumed that the true area of contact between two real
metal surfaces is determined by the plastic deformation of their
highest asperities.
Severity of adhesive wear is based on the area of contact which is
given by A = W/H. Here, W is load applied to press one surface over
other surface and H is hardness of soft material.
This expression provides appropriate results if whole load is
supported due to plastic deformation of the surface.
However, for elasto-plastic deformation, the expression needs to be
slightly modified. (A = (W/H)n where (2/3 < n < 1).
Here assumption is that higher asperities could be deformed
plastically, while the lower contacting asperities are subject to within
elastic limits.
In addition, the adhesive wear will depend on the shear strength of
friction junctions.
This means total true area of contact consists of plastic and elastic
asperity contacts and shear strength of the contacting asperities vary in
shear strength and thus influence the rate of adhesive wear.
If the junction is weaker than the material on either side of it, shearing
occurs at the interface itself Fig.(a). There will be little surface damage
and little wear. This situation occurs if sliding occurs within the surface
oxide layer.
If the junction is stronger than one of the metals, shearing will not occur
at the interface but at a little distance within the softer metal [Fig.(b)
and Fig.(c)].
This may lead to an enormous increase in wear rate.
Scoring wear, a severe form of adhesive wear, occurs due to tearing
out of small particles that weld together as a result of overheating
(due to high contact pressure and/or high sliding velocity) of the
tooth mesh zone, permitting metal to metal contact shown in Fig. (d).
After welding, sliding forces tear the metal from the surface
producing a minute cavity in one surface and a projection on the
other. The wear initiates microscopically, however, it progresses
rapidly.
Scoring is sometimes referred to as galling, seizing or scuffing.
Steps leading to Adhesive Wear :
 Steps leading to Adhesive Wear :
It is well known that macroscopically smooth surfaces are rough on
micro scale as shown in Fig.(a) and Fig.(b).
When two such surfaces are brought together as shown in Fig.(c),
contact is made at relatively few isolated asperities.
As a normal load is applied, the local pressure at the asperities
becomes extremely high. In the absence of surface films the surfaces
would adhere but a small amount of contaminant prevents adhesion
under purely normal loading.
However, relative tangential motion at the interface disperses the
contaminant films at the points of contact, and welding of the
junctions can take place. Continued sliding causes the junctions to be
sheared and new junctions to be formed. The amount of wear
depends on the position at which the junction is sheared as shown in
Fig.(a) to (c).
If shearing occurs at the interface then wear is negligible. If shear
takes place away from the interface then metal is transferred from
one surface to the other. With further rubbing, some of the
transferred material is detached to form loose wear particles. We
can summarize these steps as :
• Deformation of contacting asperities Fig. (a).
• Removal (abrasion) of protective oxide surface film.
• Formation of adhesive junctions Fig. (b).
• Failure of junction by pulling out large lumps and transfer of
materials Fig. (c).
 Laws of Adhesive Wear :
• Wear Volume proportional to sliding distance of travel (L)
- True for wide range of conditions except where back
transfer occurs.
• Wear Volume proportional to the load (W)
- Dramatic increase beyond critical load as shown in Fig.
• Wear volume inversely proportional to hardness(H) of
softer material

Using these laws, wear volume is given by V = K1WL/3H.

This equation is known as Archard’s Wear Equation.
The value of k1 depends on elastic plastic contacts, shearing of those
contacts, effect of environment, mode of lubrication, etc.
This expression of wear volume is a simple expression, as it does not
require to estimate constant n(A = (W/H)n), individual shear strength of
elastic and plastic junctions, effect of lubricant thickness, roughness, etc.
Archard assumed that the contact between tribo-pair involve
formation and breakage of junctions.
In other words, contacts occurs only at asperities. The real area of
contact of contacting surfaces, as distinguished from the apparent or
geometric area of contact, is the instantaneous sum of the areas of
all junctions.
The Archard model is demonstrated in Fig. , where cross section of
asperities after plastic deformation is assumed to be circular. First
sketch demonstrates the approach of junction forming asperities.
Area of contact increases with sliding distance and subsequently
decreases. But this process is continuous and happens among
number of asperities. On average, it is assumed that n asperities will
be in contact at any frame of time.
 Some Guidelines based on Adhesive Wear :
For longer service life or reliability of devices/machines, designers
always aim for mild wear regime. It means wear particle coming out
from the surfaces need to be much smaller in size. For getting this
conditions dissimilar metals are usually chosen to run together as
they do not weld together easily. If the metals are already at their
maximum hardness, as in rolling bearing steel, no further work
hardening is possible, so identical metals can be used for both
elements.
If severe wear behavior cannot be avoided, such as in ore processing
or earth moving equipments, routine maintenance is essential.
For example, outer ring of rolling element bearings, if subjected to
severe wear, then it can be rotated by few degrees to avoid wear of
same localized surface. Many plastics undergo a transition from mild
to severe wear as a function of sliding speed (that increases temp.) or
combination of sliding and contact pressure. For better life of those
plastics, load & speed conditions must be closely controlled.
Mild Wear :
In mild adhesive wear, small wear fragments (0.01 to 1 μ m) mostly of metal
oxides are generated.
This kind of wear occurs at flow contact pressure (below transition limit) and
sliding velocity. Formation of black powdered oxide is typical example of mild
wear.
At higher velocities more oxidation replenishes losses due to break-away of
oxide fragment as wear debris, therefore at higher velocities mild wear is
possible.
In some cases at higher loads, a hard surface layer (most likely martensite) is
formed on carbon-steel surfaces because of high flash temperatures, followed
by rapid quenching as heat is conducted into underlying bulk, and mild wear in
such situation is possible. In short if oxide or contamination layers remain
throughout operating time, wear will be in mild regime.
Severe Adhesive Wear : If load increases, the oxide film cracks off,
exposing fresh metal which welds and wear rate may increase
several hundred fold. Typical debris size range 20 to 200 μm metallic
particles.
Seizure :
Seizure means “to bind” or “fasten together”.
It is a result of mutual plastic deformation of materials and it is an extreme
form of adhesive wear.
Example of inner ring and rollers of roller bearing, shown in Fig.
In ordinary cases after seizure, components do not get separated on their
own. Manual force is required to separate the parts. In other words, after
seizure tribo-pair loses its utility and cannot be used without proper
reconditioning. The figure clearly demonstrate the grooves made at inner
ring and loss of material from roller surfaces. The relative sliding motion
between two contacting solids generally results in a loss of mechanical
energy due to friction. The power dissipation associated with friction results
in an increase in temperature of the sliding bodies. Causes for seizure are :
(1). Poor heat dissipation. It is related to material properties such thermal
conductivity.
(2). Poor lubrication system or improper lubricant also cause seizure.
(3). Smaller clearances. It is related to improper design.
(4). Installation errors. It is related to maintenance.
(5). The ability of the metals to seize or to join in solid state.
Excessive loading & heating govern the Seizure phenomenon.