Influence of the ball surface texture in the dragging of abrasive particles on micro-abrasion wear tests

Abstract

In several studies about ball-cratering test, a gap remains: how the ball surface texture influences the dynamic of the particles through the contact? In this paper, the influence of ball surface texture in the dragging of abrasive particles on micro-abrasion tests was studied, and the resulting wear mechanisms have been analyzed. The tests were conducted using TiN coated samples and AISI 52100 steel balls provided with different etching times (20 s, 40 s, and 60 s), which induced different balls' texture and roughness. Normal loads of 0.2 N and 0.5 N have been used, utilizing the same rotational speed. Tree different sizes of diamond particles were used: 1–2 μm, 2–4 μm and 4–6 μm. After testing, the coated samples were analyzed by SEM. The steel ball provided with longer etching time caused a slightly higher abrasive damage on the coated samples, and the balls present some embedded particles on the surface, although less than expected. Otherwise, less etched steel ball induced a less intense wear on the samples, enabling light particle sliding/rolling. In this case, the wear rate increased from 4.6 x 10-4 mm3/N·m to 1.3 x 10-3 mm3/N·m when Sa of the balls’ surface raised from 0.047 ± 0.003 μm to 0.239 ± 0.009 μm. The wear mechanisms involved progressed from rolling abrasive mechanism to grooving abrasive mechanism with the growth of the ball surface roughness and abrasive particles size.