Adhesive transfer to abrasive particles in abrasion testing

The definition of “abrasive wear” endorsed by the ASTM G2 Committee on Wear And Erosion is: “wear due to hard particles or hard protuberances forced against and moving along a solid surface” [1]. There are many models applied to abrasion that are based upon idealized cones (and other shapes) as an abrasive particle imposed on and moving in contact with a counterface. Wear is calculated as the volume of material fractured or displaced by the sliding cone as it indents and moves through the material. In this study we conducted two and three-body abrasion tests on a variety of materials with alumina and silica abrasive to observe the early stages of abrasion. Optical microscopy on abrasive particles and profilometry of counter faces led to the conclusion that adhesive transfer of material to abrasive particles is a significant component of both two body and three body abrasion.

► Adhesive transfer to abrasive particles is a significant part of material removal in some abrasion processes.
► Two-body abrasion can produce ten times the material removal that three-body abrasion can produce on the same substrate and with the same abrasive particles.
► Abrasive particles mostly roll rather than slide in three-body abrasion.