The Wear of Copper, Aluminum, Mild Steel, and Zinc, and Their Wear Particle Shape Factors

Unlubricated, highly loaded sliding experiments were conducted for systems of mild steel, copper, aluminum, and zinc. Load is critical in determining the wear mode. A Cocks wedge mechanism is the primary method of wear for copper, and for aluminum until a critical temperature is reached. The wear of steel is characterized by the formation of small un-joined fragments. The surfaces of wear particles were of two types; copper showed one type, and aluminum, mild steel, and zinc the other. Wear particle shape can be characterized by the ratios of dimensions (L/W) and (L/H). These factors are easily determined to good accuracy, and have distributions which are both far different in form and mean values for the various metals. The mean values of the shape factors are independent of particle size, and of each other. Surface roughness is not related to wear particle size for highly loaded sliding. Contributed by the ASLE Technical Committee on Lubrication Fundamentals and presented at the Annual Meeting of the Am...