A study on the wear of silicon nitride in rolling–sliding contact

The aim of this study is to characterize the wear in silicon nitride rolls undergoing rolling–sliding contact. A rolling contact experiment was proposed and conducted on a twin-disk tribometer. The ceramic rolls were brought into rolling contact with hardened steel disks under water lubrication at a predefined slip ratio. The generated wear on the surface of the rolls was measured and converted into a wear coefficient, which was subsequently implemented in a finite element based simulation to estimate the influence of geometrical variations on the contact stresses.The results show that wear in silicon nitride was numerically simulated to an acceptable accuracy by relying on a simple mathematical model. A correlation among progressive wear, contact stress fields and surface crack propagation patterns was established.

► Wear behavior in silicon nitride was modeled to an acceptable accuracy.
► Local geometry changes directly affect contact pressure and tensile stresses.
► Crack propagation on the surface follows the tensile stress trajectory path.
► The study highlights the prospects of simulating more complex tribological systems.