The friction and wear mechanisms between ceramics and metals

Abstract

Under the assumption that microasperities on semicylindrical hard asperities with spherical ends plough a softer surface, analyses were carried out on the effects of surface topographical parameters, such as mean heights of microasperities, radius of curvature of the tips of semicylindrical asperities, etc., on the wear rate of a soft surface. The theoretical trends of wear rates agreed well with experimental trends in pins and disks, when five kinds of metal pins were rubbed on four kinds of ceramic disks and a bearing steel (SUJ2 in JIS) disk. The wear rates of pins and disks increased with increasing ratio of wear volume to groove volume α b . Furthermore, it was found that the effect of surface topography on the wear rates of pins and disks could be estimated from the wear index Γ o or the ratio of wear volume to groove volume times the wear index α b Γ o .