3rd International Brazilian Conference on Tribology – TriBoBR 2018

Florianópolis, Brazil, 3-5 December 2018

Influence of the nature of the counter-body on micro-abrasion

Ardila, M.A.N.1)*, Costa, H. L2) and de Mello, J.D.1)
1)
Laboratório de Tribologia e Materiais, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, 38400 901, Brazil;
2)
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, 96203 Brazil
*
Corresponding author:

1. Introduction
Significant progress has been made regarding the study of wear
mechanisms during micro-abrasion. Two dynamic behaviours of the
abrasive particles during micro-abrasion have been proposed, so that
wear can occur by grooving (particle sliding) or micro-indentations
(particle rolling) mechanism [1]. The abrasive particle dynamic is
determined by the test conditions. Some relevant conditions are: the
hardness ratio between specimen and ball, the hardness and geometry
of the abrasive particles, the normal load of the system, the sliding Figure 2 Micro abrasion wear map for 304 stainless steel against
distance and the surface topography [1-3]. different counter-bodies.
In this context it can be thought that the nature of the material of
both specimen and ball determines surface characteristics, influencing
the dynamics of the abrasive particles (rolling and grooving) and
therefore the onset and growth of the wear scar during micro-abrasion.

2. Methodology
Samples of stainless steel AISI 304 (30x35x6 mm; Sa = 0.254
µm) were tested against different counter bodies. To evaluate the
influence of the nature of the counter-body five different 25.4 mm
diameter balls were used: a ceramic (Si3N4), a metal (AISI 52100
steel) and three thermoplastic polymers (polyamide 6.6 PA, polyacetal
POM and polypropylene PP). All counter-bodies were tested with the Figure 3 Model and estimate of the amount of abrasive particles
initial surface roughness provided by the manufacturer. The tests were present in the interface.
performed on a specially designed fixed-ball micro-abrasion test rig
[4], also used in abrasion-corrosion tests. Normal and friction forces To validate the model, additional tests (using polyamide 6.6 PA
were measured in real time by a triaxial load cell. The normal force, and 52100 steel) were performed using different abrasive particle
applied by dead weight, was 1.85 N. The ball rotation was 150 rpm. concentrations (5-60 wt %). Similar friction coefficients and wear
The slurry was composed of abrasive particles of SiO2 with a mean rates can be achieved with counter-bodies of different nature when
size of 3µm in distilled water (10%wt), pumped at a flow rate of 1.7 varying the concentration of abrasive particles, Fig 4.
ml/min. Preliminary tests indicated that, for all the different types of
counter bodies, a steady-state wear regime was achieved after 15 min
of test. Therefore, tests of 90 min of total duration were performed
with interruptions at intervals of 15 min. At each interruption, wear
scars were measured and wear coefficients (k) calculated.

3. Results
Fig. 1 shows wear rates, friction coefficients, and the width and
spacing of the grooves generated after the micro-abrasion tests for the
different counter-bodies. The relationship between wear rate and
friction coefficient is approximately inversely linear (Fig. 2). Similar
tendency was observed for width and spacing of the grooves, which
seems to be associated with the hardness of the counter bodies.
Figure 4 Wear rate (a) and friction coefficient (b) for PA 6.6 and
AISI 52100 steel counter-bodies with different
concentrations of abrasive particles.
4. Conclusions
The nature of the counter body strongly influences micro-abrasion.
The highest wear rates and lowest friction coefficients were induced
by the polymeric counter-bodies. The main influencing factor was the
hardness ratio between the specimen and the counter-bodies which, in
turn, influences the number of particles that participate at the
interface.

Figure 1 (a) Wear rate; (b) Friction coefficient; and (c) Average
width and spacing of the grooves presents in the wear
scars.
Additionally, a model, schematically illustrated in Fig 3, was
developed to determine the amount of particles involved in contact at
the end of each time interval (15 min). The nature of the counter-body
and test time influences the amount of abrasive particles in the
interface, as shown in Fig. 3.
5. References
[1] R.I. Trezona, D.N. Allsopp, I.M. Hutchings, Transitions between
two-body and three-body abrasive wear: influence of test conditions in
the microscale abrasive wear test, Wear, 225–229, Part 1 (1999)
205-214.
[2] H.L Costa, M.A.N. Ardila, W.S. Labiapari, W.M Silva,.J.D.B De
Mello,Effect of surface topography on the dynamics of the abrasive
particles during micro-abrasion, Wear, 324-325, (2015) 129-139,
[3] K. Adachi, I.M. Hutchings, Wear-mode mapping for the
micro-scale abrasion test, Wear, 255 (2003) 23-29.
[4] M.B. Santos, W.S. Labiapari, M.A.N. Ardila, W.M. da Silva, J.D.B.
de Mello, Abrasion–corrosion: New insights from force measurements,
Wear, 332-333 (2015) 1206-1214.