Acta metal/. Vol. 35, No. I, pp. l-24, 1987 OOOI-6160/87 53.00 + 0.

00
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved Copyright c 1987 Pergamon Journals Ltd

OVERVIEW NO. 55

WEAR-MECHANISM MAPS

S. C. LIM’ and M. F. ASHBY’

‘Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, National University of Singapore,
Kent Ridge, Singapore 0511, Republic of Singapore and ‘University Engineering Department,
Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 lPZ, England

(Received 10 March 1986; in revised form II March 1986)

Abstract-The potential of Wear-MechanismDiagrams is explored. Diagrams which show the rate and
the regime of dominance of each of a number of mechanisms of dry wear (delamination, mild and severe
oxidation, melting, seizure, etc.) are constructed empirically (that is, from experimental data alone) and
by modelling (by theoretical analysis calibrated to experiment). The method is applied to steels, and has
wider application as a way of classifying and ordering wear data, and of showing the relationships between
competing wear mechanisms.

Resume-Nous explorons les possibilites des diagrammes de mPcanismesd’usure. Nous construisons

empiriquement (c’est a dire, a partir des seules don&es experimentales) et a I’aide de modeles (grace a
des analyses theoriques Ctalonnies sur l’experience) des diagrammes qui fournissent la vitesse et le regime
de predominance de chacun des mecanismes d’usure s&he (delamination, oxydation legtre et prononcte,
fusion etc). Nous appliquons cette methode aux aciers, mais elle a des applications plus larges en tant
que moyen de classification et de tri des don&es d’usure, ou pour montrer les relations entre les
mecanismes d’usure en competition.

Zusammenfassung-Die Anwendungsmijglichkeiten von Diagrammen der Abriebmechanismen werden

untersucht. Diagramme, die Geschwindigkeit und Bereich des Auftretens einer Reihe von Mechanismen
des trockenen Abriebes (Delamiantion, schwache und starke Oxidation, Schmelzen usw) aufzeigen, werden
empirisch (d.h. aus experimentellen Werten) und im Model1 (d.h. durch theoretische, an das Experiment
angeglichene Analyse) konstruiert. Diese Methode wird auf Stiihle angewendet. Sie hat einen weiteren
Anwendungsbereich, indem sie Abriebdaten klassifizieren und ordnen und die Zusammenhange zwischen
konkurrierenden Abriebmechanism en aufzeigen kann.

Conconius, vile critic, leave me now in peace
and keep your lard-like thoughts for axle-
grease.. .“t
Marcus Valerius Martialis
1. INTRODUCTION
The engineering problem of wear was known to the
ancients who used lubricants such as lard (for the
axles of chariots) to reduce friction and to avoid the
excessive material-loss which is inevitable when dry
surfaces rub together. What the modern engineer
knows that the ancients did not is there are many
mechanisms of wear: wear caused by adhesion, wear
by abrasion, by oxidation, by delamination, by melt-
ing, and more. The outsider to the field is struck by
its complexity, and by the lack of an overall frame-
work or pattern into which the individual obser-
vations can be fitted: research has tended to focus on
tcosconi, qui longa pulas epigrammata nostra, Utilis un-
guendis axibus esse pates..
the details of a single mechanism, not on the re-
lationship between mechanisms.
One way of exploring this broader pattern, Tabor
[1] [2] suggests, might be to construct wear-mechanism
maps which (by analogy with deformation-
mechanism maps [3]) summarise data and models for
wear, showing how the mechanisms interface, and
allowing the dominant mechanism, for any given set
of conditions to be identified. We have tried to do
this, and report the results here. We have followed
two (converging) paths. One is empirical: mechanism
maps are built up by plotting experimental data for
wear rates on suitable axes, identifying the mech-
anism at each point by observation. The other uses
physical modelling: model-based equations de-
scribing the wear rate caused by each mechanism are
combined (using a numerical procedure) to give a
map showing the total rate, and the field of domi-
nance of each. These models contain constants which
are poorly known; so the final step is to calibrate each
model-based equation using blocks of data which lie
in its field. The final version of the map is the result
of this process, and combines, as best as we have been
2 LIM and ASHBY:
able, the experimental data with results of theoretical
thinking.
It is important to emphasise that this study is
intended as a first, broad, survey. Accordingly, the
theoretical treatments are reduced to the simplest
possible level: heat flow is approximated by the
equivalent one-dimensional problem; rates of ox-
idation are calculated from the simplest kinetic
model; and so forth. The justification is that the range
of the variables covered by the study-load, sliding
velocity and wear rate-is enormous; and the experi-
mental scatter, when the results of many different
investigations are combined, is pretty large too. An
error of a factor of 2-even of l&in the theory does
not seriously change the conclusions. This is not to
dismiss the detailed models which abound in the
literature: their precision is of the greatest value in
their own context. But it is not needed here, and the
points to be made will emerge most clearly if the
calculations are reduced to a minimum.
The symbols used in the paper are defined where
they first appear; for convenience they are also assem-
bled in Table 1, with their definitions and dimensions.
The reader wishing to get a quick idea of the paper
might read Sections 2 and 6, and then look at Figs
16 and 27.
Table I. Symbols,
wear rate@G/m)
normalised were rate
normal force on sliding interface (N)
normalised pressure on sliding interface
sliding velocity (m/s)
normalised velocity
nominal area of contact (m2)
real area of contact (m*)
radius of pin (m)
radius of an asperity (m)
equivalent linear diffusion distance for bulk beating (m)
equivalent linear diffusion distance for flash heating (m)
dimensionless parameter for bulk heating ( = C/r,,)
hardness of sliding surface (N/m*)
room-temperature hardness of metal (N/m*)
room-temperature hardness of oxide (N/m’)
heat flux (J/m2s)
rate of heat input per unit area (J/m’s)
enhanced rate of heat input per unit area at an asperity (J/m2s)
rate of heat conduction into the asperities per unit area (J/m’s)
Jaeger’s dimensionless constant
heat distribution coefficient
coefficient of friction
temperature (K)
bulk temperature (K)
flash temperature (K)
sink temperature for hulk heating (K)
sink temperature for flash heating (K)
temperature at the metal/oxide interface (K)
an equivalent temperature for metal (K)
an effective equivalent temperature for metal (K)
an equivalent temperature for oxide (K)
temperature for martensite formation (K)
melting temperature of metal (K)
melting temperature of oxide (K)
oxidation temperature (K)
specific heat (J/kgK)
density of metal (kg/m’)
density of oxide (kg/m’)
specific heat per unit volume (Jjm’K)
thermal diffusivity of metal (m2/s) ( = K/PC)
thermal diffusivity of oxide (m2/s)
thermal conductivity of metal (J/msK)
OVERVIEW NO. 55
2. WEAR-MECHANISM MAPS
The wear rate W of a sliding surface is con-
ventionally defined as the volume lost from the
surface per unit distance slid. Its dimensions are m2
(it is a derivative with respect to distance, not to
time). For a given sliding geometry, it is a function
of the normal force, F, acting across the sliding
surfaces, their relative velocity, v, their initial tem-
perature, TO, and the thermal, mechanical and them -
ical properties of the materials which meet at the
surface. For each of the mechanisms, (the ith mech-
anism, for instance) one can write
thermal, mechanical, chemical props.}. (1)
If the mechanisms do not interact, then the dominant
mechanism is the one which, for a given F, v, TO, etc
leads to the greatest wear rate. Sliding may heat the
surfaces, of course, but the local temperature does
not appear among the independent variable of equa-
tion (1) because it, too depends directly on them: if
they are specified, the local temperature distribution
(which we discuss below) is determined also.
Experience with problems of this sort shows that
much is to be gained by the use of dimensionless
definitions and units
thermal conductivity of oxide (J/msK)
effective thermal conductivity (J/msK)
total number of contacting asperities
true number of contacting asperities
probability of forming a new asperity contact
constant used in the calculation of N
shear stress (N/m2)
constant used in Tabor’s junction growth equation
shear strain rate
pre-exponential constant in low-temperature dislocation glide
activation energy for low-temperature dislocation glide (J/mol)
latent heat of fusion per unit volume for metal (J/m))
latent heat of fusion per unit volume for oxide (J/m’)
volumetric rate of production of molten material (ml/s)
volume fraction of molten material removed during sliding
constant used in the model for mild-oxidational wear
molar gas constant (8.314 J/mol K)
activation energy for oxidation (J/mol)
arrhenius constant for oxidation (kg2/m4s)
mass of oxygen intake by the oxide film per unit area (kg/m2)
parabolic oxidation rate constant (kg*/m%)
mass fraction of oxygen in the oxide film
thickness of oxide film at an asperity (m)
critical thickness of oxide film (m)
thickness of oxide film due to bulk heating (m)
thickness of oxide film due to flash heating (m)
pin/disk interaction time (s)
heat diffusion time (s)
oxidation time (s)
time taken to reach the critical oxide thickness (s)
critical depth for void nucleation (m)
number of inclusions per unit volume
radius of an inclusion (m)
volume fraction of inclusions
area fraction of voids
critical area fraction of voids
cumulative plastic shear strain
cumulative plastic shear strain needed to produce failure
plastic shear strain accumulated per pass
total number of passes to failure
distance between asperity contacts
Archard’s dimensionless wear coefficient
 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55

variables. Because many mechanisms are involved
there is no single ideal choice of variables. But both
the data-plots (shown presently) and the devel-
opoment of the models (coming presently too) sug-
gest that data from different sources, using specimens
of differing shapes and sizes can best be correlated by
using a normalised wear rate, force and sliding
velocity, defined by
WC”
n
F
i;=-.---
A,ffO
fi=s
a The data of Figs l-6 derive from the work of many
Here A, is the nominal (apparent) contact area of the
wearing surface, H,, is its room-temperature hardness,
a is the thermal diffusivity and r, is the radius of the
circular nominal contact area. @ is the volume lost
per unit area of surface, per unit distance slid; F is the
(nominal) pressure divided by the surface hardness;
and fi can be thought of as the sliding velocity divided
by the velocity of heat flow.
All the diagrams in this paper are plotted using F
and u’ as axes, with contours (where appropriate)
which show the value of @. The range of the axes is
large and includes the sliding conditions of almost all
published work: the normalised pressure F ranges
from 10e5 to 10; and the normalised velocity v^ranges
from 10m2 to 10’. The diagrams show both the
normalised velocity B and the actual sliding velocity
U, in m/s.
(b) medium carbon (0.3 < C < 0.7 wt%)
steels;
(c) high carbon (C > 0.7 wt%) steels;
(d) low alloy (2-5 wt% Cr, MO, V and Ni)
steels
(e) high alloy (typically 18 wt% Cr, 8 wt%
Ni) steels; and
(f) tool (typically 20 wt% of W, Co and Ni,
1.5 wt% C) steels.
The data for fi are plotted on axes of P and d in
Figs l-6. Figure 1 (pure iron and mild steels) illus-
trates the main features: the data cover most of the
range of the variables; and the normalised axes cause
data with the same value of I@ to group together.
research groups (listed on the figures). But the range
of load and velocity studied by a given investigator
and his group is usually small, and covers only a
minor part of the figure. The areas studied by a
number of leading groups are shown in Fig. 7. The
overlap is small. Often, within one of these areas, a
single mechanism of wear is dominant; certainly each
group has its own preferred mechanism, and has,
quite naturally, sought the experimental conditions
needed to produce it. The first, crude, indication of
how mechanisms interrelate can be found (therefore)
by marking the boundaries of the field studied by
a group, and for which their model was developed.
Such a map of mechanism-schools is shown in Fig. 8.
It shows four main areas:
(a) seizure;
(b) melt-dominated wear:
(c) oxidation-dominated wear (mild- and
severe-oxidational wear); and

3. EMPIRICAL WEAR-MECHANISM MAPS

SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)

?1
10-L lo-2 1 102
We first examine the data for wear rate and
mechanism without imposing any model-based ideas
on them. To do this we have assembled, from the
open literature, wear rate data and observation of
wear mechanisms for six steels; and we have aug-
mented these with measurements of our own. The
primary data are from dry (that is unlubricated)
pin-on-disk experiments, though data from other
tests (pin-on-ring or cylinder, cylinder-on-cylinder,
etc.) do not, in general, differ much, and can often
usefully be included. Experiments with external heat
input were exluded; so for the most part, were
experiments in environments other than air. We
frequently found that the references did not contain
all the information needed to make the diagrams;
then we had to make reasonable guesses (based, for
instance, on photos of the worn surfaces) to estimate I O-61

10-&
47. .-PC O_n

I
them. 1 102 loL

Data for steels were classified into six subgroups, NORMALISED VELOCITY S
and each is plotted separately. The subgroups are: Fig. 1. The wear-rate data-map for low carbon steel. Data
for pure iron are also ir$uded. The numbers given against
(a) pure iron and low carbon (C < 0.3 wt%) the points are log,,(W). (The references. in order, are
steels; (4201.1
4 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55

SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s) SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)

.L lo-* 1 IO2

L
‘Q;o-4 1
10"

NORMALISED VELOCITY i? NORMAL&ED VELOCITY v

Fig. 2. The wear-rate data-map for medium carbon steel. Fig. 4. The wear-rate data-map for low alloy steel. The
The numbers given against the points are log,,(@). (The numbers given against the points are log,,,(m). (The refer-
references, in order, are [21,22,6,23-28, 1829,301.) ences, in order, are [15, 10, 26,8,29,32-36, 23, 371.)

(d) plasticity-dominated wear (including
delamination wear).
This may seem more like political than scientific
reasoning. But that is not true. Within an area,
detailed studies characterise the mechanism (whole
books have been written about some of them-see,
for example, Suh et al. [45]); it is only the boundaries
between the mechanisms which are uncertain. The
map suggests where these boundaries lie; and, antic-
ipating the most obvious results of the modelling, we
can sketch them in. Figure 9 shows the results for
steel. Seizure will occur (crudely) when the pin plas-
tically indents the disk; that occurs when P = 1. Melt
wear will occur when the power dissipated against
friction, pFv/A, per unit area, exceeds a critical
value; that defines a triangular field in the top right.
Oxidation starts only when asperity heating exceeds,
say, 400°C; that (we show in the next section) occurs
at a near-vertical boundary, roughly in the middle of

SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)

SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)
10-Z 1 102

NORMALISED VELOCITY 5 NORMALISED VELOCITY F

Fig. 3. The wear-rate data-map for high carbon steel. The Fig. 5. The wear-rate data-map for high alJoy steel. The
numbers given against the points are log,,(W). (The refer- numbers given against the points are log,,(W). (The refer-
ences, in order, are [7,6,26,3 1, 161.) ences, in order, are [12,23,38,39,4].)
 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55 5

SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s) SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)

2
,$O" 10-z

NORMALISED VELOCITY q
NORMALISED VELOCITY v
Fig. 6. The wear-rate data-map for tool steel. The numbers Fig. 8. The mechanism-schools
given against the points are log,,(@). (The references, in
order, are [37,12,40,38].)
calibrated against experiment. The next two sections
describe the extent to which we have been able to
the diagram. And severe-oxidation obviously occurs achieve this.
at a higher velocity than mild-oxidation. That gives
the Jie[d boundaries. Superimposed on them are con -
4. THE TEMPERATURE OF SLIDING
tours of constant normalised wear rate, & They are SURFACES
sketched in by interpolation through the data plotted
in Figs l-6. When two surfaces slide together, most of the work
One could stop here, but it is challenging to done against friction is turned into heat. The resulting
explore the degree to which a diagram like Fig. 9 rise in temperature may modify the mechanical and
might be constructed from theoretical considerations metallurgical properties of the sliding surfaces, and it
alone, or (what is far more profitable) from theory may make them oxidise or even melt; all these things
influence the rate of wear. The frictional heat is really
generated at the tiny contact areas (“asperities”)
SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)
which make up the true area of contact at the sliding
16‘ to+ 1 102 interface. The instantaneous temperature of these
contact points (the “local” of “flash” temperature,
Tr) is obviously higher than the average (or “bulk”)
temperature Tb of the surface, sometimes much larger
[30, 46601.
In what follows, the important results for flash and
bulk heating are assembled and combined to give a
diagram showing the surface temperature as a func-
tion of the normalised pressure F and velocity d. In
doing this, one has to assume a geometry for the
sliding surfaces; the pin-on-disk configuration has
been chosen for the reasons given earlier. (Other
geometries lead to diagrams that look only slightly
different.) We have simplified the calculations as far
as possible, replacing three-dimensional patterns of
heat flow by simpler one-dimensional equivalents,
while attempting to keep a consistent level of accu-
racv.
NORMALISED VELOCITY v
4.1. Bulk heating
Fig, 7. The author-map. (The references, in order, are
[30, 12,4&42, 10,4,13,8,20, 14,9,7,5,21,43,44,33,34,36, When a pin slides on a disk (Fig. IO), frictional
35,23,29,24].) heat is generated at the interface. The heat generated
 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55

JAxls of sliding velocity Idimension=m/sl

SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)
1 IO2
1
Fields identifying S_
range of dominance b SEIZURE PIN-ON-DISK
of mechanism

Contoursof constant
normolised weor
2
Axis of /
normalised
5
n
Rate 6t
ldimensionlessl

pressure f y”
[dimensionless1
tH

10-2 1 102 10‘

NORMALISED VELOfITY ‘j
AXIS of normalised velocity Idimensionless]

Fig. 9. The empirical wear-mechanism map for steel using the pin-on-disk configuration.

per unit area per second (units: J/m2s) is
PFV
(3=7
n them, and then a = f. But a point on the disk surface
where p is the coefficient of friction, F is the normal
force on the pin, Dis the sliding velocity and A, is the
nominal contact area (the area of the end of the
pin). A fraction a of the heat diffuses into the pin; the
rest goes into the disk. Some of the heat entering the
pin diffuses to its surfaces where it is lost by radiation;
the rest diffuses up the body of the pin where it is
absorbed by the heat sink formed by the clamping
mechanism. Let the mean diffusion distance? be lb.
After an initial transient, the temperature in the
pin will settle down at the steady-state distribution
which can be calculated from the first law of heat
flow. Linearising the problem, the heat flux (units:
J/m’s) is
of the total. If the steady-state temperature-
distribution were established in both pin and disk,
(3) frictional heat would be. divided equally between
has heat injected into it only for the interaction time
t,, = 2r,/v (the time taken for the point to slide across
the diameter of the pin), whereas the pin has heat
injected into it all the time. The steady state is
established in the pin, but it may not be established
in the disk: that depends on whether the interaction
time td is bigger or smaller than the heat diffusion
time, t,, = r,/a. It is convenient to define the constant
9 on the ratio of these two terms [46]
@2!25.
td 2a
When this is less than 1, a steady state is established
in the disk and a = l/2; when not, a transient tem-
perature field exists in the disk, and a is less than l/2.

Heat sink (clamping mechanism I.

where K,,, is the thermal conductivity, Tb is the bulk sink temperature = To
surface temperature and To is the sink temperature -r
(which we take to be 20°C). Equating this to the
incident heat flux crq, we obtain [using equation (3)]

T,, = T, + AK. (4)

n m
Heat flows into the disk as well-a fraction (1 - a)

tlb is the “equivalent linear diffusion distance”. The heat Heat input-(l-a)q j/m2s
flow is not, in general, linear; but for dimensional
reasons the temperature must have the form given by
equation (4). We choose I, to have the value which DISK
makes equation (4) equal to the approximate solution to Fig. 10. The bulk temperature generation at the pin/disk
the full, three-dimensional, problem. interface.
 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55 I

We calculate a from the time-dependent equations SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)

-& 1
for heat flow [61]. An incident heat flux (1 - cr)q IO'
1p-2
II
192

produces a surface temperature 0 JcJImScn

et01119L71 STEEL
b run”* 01119801 CCEFFICIENT
OFFRICTION
p
T = T + 2(1 - ah(wP
b 0
k,(n)“* .
Continuity requires that the bulk temperature at the
contacting interface is the same for the pin and the
disk. Equating equation (4) to (5) and solving for a
gives
1
a = 1 + I,(nu /8ar,)“*’
This result reduces to a = 1 when u = 0 because we
have neglected the transition to a steady pattern of
heat flow in the disk when the Jaeger constant 0 is
less than 1. We fix this by writing
1
(6)
a = 2 + &(zv/8ar,,)“*
NORMALISED VELOCITY V
giving an equation for the heat distribution coefficient, Fig. 11. The variations in coefficient of friction with nor-
a, which now has the correct limits. Though approx- malised pressure and normalised velocity for steel. Contours
imate, it is more than adequate for our purposes. of constant p are superimposed on the data points at
At this stage it is helpful to note that the quantity velocities greater than 1 m/s. (The references, in order, are
[62,29, 63, 33,42, 21,64, 5, IO].)
(aHO/&) has the dimension of temperature, and that
1, and rO are both lengths and roughly the same
magnitude. We define
4.1.1. Calibration of the bulk heating equation.
T’=g!Z (74 Figure 13 shows the temperature contour for 1527°C
m
(the melting point for pure iron) obtained using
(for steels, T* z 222K), and equations (8) and (9) and the material properties
given in Table 2 (with /3 = 6). The contour is trun-
Ub) cated at E = 1, roughly corresponding to the seizure
load. Superimposed on the contour are two sets of
(where /3 is a dimensionless number of general data obtained from high velocity sliding experiments
order 1).
The bulk heating of the pin is given by equation (4)
with the value of a given by equation (6). Rear- SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)
ranging the result in terms of the dimensionless 16‘ 10-Z 1 102
variables P and r? gives the equation for the bulk
surface temperature :

PT*B
T,, = T,.,+ Fl7.
2 + /II(rru’i8)“’
To calculate it, we need the coefficient of friction,
p. It is often said that p is a constant, but over the
wide range of load and velocity of the diagrams
shown here it is not. Figure 11 shows data for p for
steel rubbing on dry steel, plotted on axes of P and
d. approximate contours of constant p are shown,
drawn by interpolating between the data points. The
thing to note is that g depends on v’ but, except at
the highest velocities, is independent of i? The de-
pendence on 3 is best seen in Fig. 12; it is adequately
described by
p = 0.78 - O.l31og,,(B). (9)
NORMALISED VELOCITY v
It varied from about 1 at very low velocity to about Fig. 12. The variations in coefficient of friction with sliding
0.1 at very high. This is used in equation (8) to velocity for steel. (The references, in order, are
calculate bulk temperatures. [62,29, 63,33,42, 21,64, 5, IO].)
8 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55

SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s) asperities touch, and the heat input per unit area at
an asperity, q’, is larger than that given by equation
(3) by the factor A,/A,. In units of J/m2s, we have

Some authors (e.g. Tabor [65]) have supposed that

the contacting area of an asperity, nrz (where r, is its
radius) increases with load. Others [6668] argue that
the average area of an asperity contact is constant
(with a value of ra between about lo-‘rn and 10-6m)
and that it is their number, not their size, which
increases with load; and indirect experimental evi-
dence [69,70] supports this view. In the following
calculations we have taken the area of the “unit
asperity” to be constant and allowed the real area of
contact to change by changing the number N of
contacting points.
This number enters explicitly in the equation for
NORMALISED VELOCITY “v
the flash temperature, so we need an expression for
Fig. 13. Calibration of the bulk temperature. (The refer- it. When the load is light, N must be small; in the limit
ences, in order, are [21, 51.) of vanishingly small loads, it approaches the value 1.
At the other extreme, when the load approaches the
on steels? [5,21] where large scale melting is reported. seizure load, the “unit” contacts overlap and the true
The contour shows broad agreement with the data number of contacts again becomes small: in the limit
points. of complete seizure it again goes to 1. The problem
is analysed in Appendix 1, where we show that the
4.2. Flash heating true number of contacting points is adequately ap-
Almost always, the real area of contact between the proximated by
sliding surfaces, A,, is much less than the nominal
contact area, A,. Real contact is made only where N= : 2&1-F)+1 (11)
0 d

tThe carbon content of the steels was between 0.1 and where ra is the radius of an isolated “unit” contact
0.52%C, giving melting points between 1500 and (typically 10m5m) and r, is the pin radius. The
1520°C. equation has the proper limits and (as pointed out in

Table 2. Material urooerties

Property Symbol Value
Thermal conductivity, (steel) K (J/msK) 41 ‘a’
Thermal diffusivity, (steel) a @Is) 9.1 x 10-e Cd’
Density, (steel) P (kg/m’) 7.8 x 10’
Volume thermal capacity, (steel) PC(J/m3K) 4.5 x 106 @’
Melting point, (steel) T, (K) I800
Latent heat of melting, (steel) L (J/m) 2.1 x 109 @I
Temperature T* for steel a&I&, (K) % 222 @)
Temperature T: for steel a&i& (K) z 650 lb)
Molecular weight of iron & (kg/KmoU 56
Martensite temperature (A,) T,(K) 1023-I 173
Hardness at 20°C. (steel) H, @N/m*) ,w
Thermal conductivity, (oxide) K., (J/msK) 3.2 (”
Thermal diffusivity, (oxide) a,, @is) 4.5 x 10-G W’
Density, (oxide) P.. &s/m’) 5.2 x 10’ w
Volume thermal capacity, (oxide) (PC+U~~) 7.2 x IO5 w
Melting point, (oxide) 1867 W’
Latent heat of melting, (oxide) L,,m(J/m’) 3.1 x 109 w
Temperature Tzx for oxide a,, &,I&, (K) z 2800 (‘I
Molecular weight of oxygen MO,(kg/KmoU
Activation energy for oxidation Q, (kJ/mol) 1,“,‘b,
Arrhenius constant for oxidation A. lke2/m4s~ 106(b)
‘“‘Data for iron from the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics [146].
““Present work.
@‘M@lgaard and Smeltzer (1451.
‘d’Americon Institure of Physics Handbook [I471
“‘Quinn ef al. [104].
‘“Using Ho, = 2 GN/m’.

JF
PIN
-V
Sink temperature=T~ aTb
Heat input q + q J/m%
/
Heat input = $q
Fig. 14. Flash temperature generation at an asperity contact.
the Appendix) it is in good agreement with the counts
of contacts made by Quinn and Winer [70].
Consider now heat flow into an asperity (Fig. 14).
As an asperity on the pin sweeps over one on the disk,
heat is generated, and this heat flows into the two
surfaces through the circles of contact. The contact
time is
2r.
t=4
V
where r, is the asperity contact radius and v is the
sliding velocity. The local surface temperature at the
contact rises, and reaches a peak value, Tr; then the
contacts separate and the local temperature falls
again. The appropriate choice of heat flow equation
depends (Archard 1301, Lim 1711) on whether the
contact time r is large or small compared to the
characteristic time constant for heat flow which (for
flash heating) is
L
t,=5.
a
The choice is discussed in Appendix 2. The full
solution (Carslaw and Jaeger [61], Bass [72]) con-
tains both limits. But it only makes sense to calculate
r, from heat-flow considerations (ignoring melting)
when it is less than the melting point. Then one limit
is appropriate (Appendix 2) and the equation simpli-
fies to
where /3 is a numerical constant near unity, which is
essentially the ratio of the heat-diffusion distance to
the asperity radius (If/r,), and (as before) tl is the
fraction of the heat which flows into the pin, and TL
is the “sink temperature” for heat flowing away from
the asperity. Almost always, the asperity size, ra, is
much less than the nominal contact radius, r,; then
LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55 9
the sink temperature T’, is well approximated by the
bulk surface temperature Tb (Fig. 14). (The excep-
tional circumstance when this is not so is analysed in
Appendix 3.) Further, as we shall see in a moment,
in the regime in which the flash temperature plays an
important role in wear, the bulk temperature is
low-close to T,,. This allows a further simplification:
there is now no distinction between an asperity on the
pin and one on the disk, and the heat partition factor
c( reduces to l/2.
To get any further we need a relationship between
real contact area and the load. This is a problem
which has been exhaustively discussed in the litera-
ture (e.g., Archard [30]; Bowden and Tabor [73, 741).
J/m’s saw= zr,
(Total area ol When the contacts are plastic (as we shall assume
ospenty contours=A,l
them to be), equilibrium requires that
(15)
We need, too, an expression for ra/ro. If there are N
asperity contacts per unit area, then
Nnrz A,
--F=-
nr, A,
so that
r / b\ I!?
r, 1
-=-
r. 0N (16)
Finally, if oxide forms on the asperity tips (as it does
(12) if the flash temperature is appreciable), the effective
thermal conductivity of the asperity is altered. The
T* should be replaced by an effective equivalent
temperature T,* , which is calculated in Appendix 4.
Assembling these results gives the steady-stare ,flash
temperature
(17)
with Tb given by equation (8) p by equation (9) and
N by equation (11).
4.2.1. Calibration of the flash heating equation.
The equation of flash heating [equation (17)] was
evaluated and is plotted in Fig. 15, using the data
in Table 2 (together with /J = 6, r, = 10eSm and
2 = 10d5m, as before). The axes are the usual ones:
Fand 8. Three flash temperature contours are plotted
corresponding to 750, 900 and 1527°C (the melting
point of pure iron). Superimposed on the contours
are data derived from wear tests in which martensite
was first detected on the sliding surfaces (references
are given on the figure). In these tests, the steel
specimens had carbons between 0.12 and 0.78 wt%.
The minimum instantaneous peak temperature re-
quired to bring them into the fully austenitic field lies
between 750 and 900°C; the subsequent cooling is
always fast enough to form martensite [28]. The data
points fall between, or close to, the contours for those
two temperatures.
10 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55

SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s) SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)

lo4 IQ” 1 lp’
10 ’
STEEL
TEHPERAT”RE
MAP
PIN-OCDISK
CONFlG”RATlON

NORMALISED VELOCITY v NORMALISED VELOCITY V

Fig. 15. Martensite calibration of the flash temperature. Fig. 16. The temperature map.
(The references, in order, are [34,75,26,23, 24, 15,301.)

at 7 f 3-a number which agrees well with the equa-

A second independent check of the flash tem-
perature is given by the observations of Quinn and
Winer [70], who slid tool steel pins on a sapphire disk
with values of P between 1.2 x 1O-4 and 6.6 x 10e4,
and at sliding velocities between 1.7 and 2.6 m/s (so
the data lie almost exactly on top of those plotted in
Fig. 15). Photographs of the hot spots allowed the
asperity (flash) temperature to be estimated from an
approximate colour-temperature calibration. Most of
the hot spots, they found, were at about 950°C with
one or more in almost every photograph ranging to
1100 or 1200°C. They also found that, when the
exposure time was reduced below 33 ms, the number
of hot spots per photograph became roughly constant
tion for N [equation (1 l)].
4.3. The temperature map
The results of this section are summarised in
Fig. 16. It shows, on the usual axes (P and v’),
contours of constant bulk (Tb) and constant flash (T,)
temperature. They are computed from the equations
derived in the text and summarised in Table 3. In
simplifying the heat-flow calculations we have taken
considerable care to retain the physically-important
features of the problems; and each equation has been
checked and calibrated against experimental data.
We are, therefore, confident that the map gives a
reasonably accurate picture of the temperatures that

Table 3. The simulified temuerature equations

Bulk temperature T,
PT’B Fc
T, = To f equation (8)
2 + /7 (xt7/8)“*
Flash temperature Tf

Tf= T,[I -(;>‘“]+ To(;>‘“+~(;)“‘i equation(AS)

With the followingdefinitions

p=&
n 0
equation(2)
fi=u’”
0

T’ = $ E 222 K for steel equation(7a)

m

T: = ? e 650 K for steel equation(A7)

e

p+; equation (7b)

/I =0.78-0.131og,,(fi) equation (9)

N=
0 2P(1
:

I..= 1.5mm
d
-f)+, equation (1 I)
 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55 11

appear in a steel pin sliding on a steel disk during dry a shear stress s = pF/A, (because of friction) in
wear experiments. And because the normalised axes addition to the normal pressure F/A,, and the junc-
contain some of the geometric and thermal variables tions grow further until
of the problem, the map gives an approximate picture F2
of surface temperatures during dry sliding of steel
surfaces of other geometries. It forms the basis on
which the next section of this paper is built.
0 z
r
+ u,s2 = HZ.

This is Tabor’s equation [65]; he and others (e.g.

(19)

Johnson [80]) find that a value of the constant LX,

= 12
5. WEAR MECHANISMS fits experimental data well; we shall use it here.
Replacing s in the last equation by pF/A, gives a
The second step in constructing wear maps by modified version of equation (19) which now includes
physical modelling is that of identifying and de- the effect of frictional shear
scribing the individual mechanisms that cause loss of
material from the sliding surfaces. We consider four (20)
broad classes of mechanism:
The surfaces seize when the real contact area becomes
(I) seizure;
equal to the nominal one, that is, when A, = A,. This
(2) melt wear,
gives the approximate seizure condition
(3) oxidation-dominated wear, and
(4) plasticity-dominated wear, 1 H
(21)
F = (1 + cc,$)“2H,
For each mechanism, we survey and develop models
and calibrate them against wear-rate data, drawing where F and p are given by equations (2) and (9) as
heavily on published work of the many authorities on before.
wear. As emphasized earlier, each model is reduced For most purposes it is adequate (see Appendix 5)
to the simplest level which still retains the essential to set H = HO in this equation, giving a very simple
physics. These simplified and calibrated models are expression for the seizure line. We have used a
then assembled to give a wear-mechanism map for slightly better approximation. The local hardness
steel. depends not only on temperature but on strain rate

5.1. Seizure
When metal surfaces are placed in contact, the real
area over which they touch, A,, is usually very small.

I
PIN
The large local pressures at the points of real contact
(the asperity contacts) can forge metallic junctions
\
between the surfaces even under static conditions
[76]. When the junctions are sheared the welded areas
grow; under large enough loads, the real area of
contact grows until it is equal to the nominal area,
A,, and the surfaces seize completely [65]. Effects
such as plastic indentation [77], large-scale mass flow
[78] and metallic transfer [79] have been used as the I I
basis of seizure models, but these seem just to be I
I
I I
another way of saying that shear causes catastrophic Total area
junction growth, a condition analysed by Johnson Of ospenty
contact .A PLAN VIEW OF
[80] and Collins [81] who provided a physical expla- lb1 ’
IDEALISED CONTACT

nation for Tabor’s equation [65] for seizure [equation

(19) discussed below].

5.1. I. The model for seizure. When two surfaces

touch, the localised pressure on the asperity contacts
causes plastic flow. Under static conditions, the con-
tacting regions grow until the real area of contact
A, is large enough to support the load [Fig. 17(a)].
Then the mean pressure on an asperity, F/A,, is
simply equal to the local hardness, H, of the material
(which may be hot)
f=H. (18)
r
If the surfaces now slide, each asperity is subjected to
ICI J
Fig. 17. An idealised model for the seizure mechanism. (a)
The asperity contacts deform plastically, under the normal
load F, until the real area of contact, A,, is given by F/H,,.
(b) Further increase in the normal load F and the presence
of a tangential traction (u # 0) will increase the number of
asperity contacts, N, as well as the size of each contact, ra.
The real area of contact, A,, has increased. (c) Seizure takes
place when the real area of contact, A,, equals the nominal
area of contact, A,.
12 LIM and ASHBY:
NORMALISED VELOCITY 7
Fig. 18. Calibration of the seizure line. The broken line is
described by equation (21) and the solid line by equation
(22). The lower limit of the normalised-velocity axis has
been extended to accommodate data points from slow-
sliding tests. (The references, in order, are [82,44,5,43,
21, 83, 841.)
too. As the sliding velocity increases, the bulk tem-
perature, T,,, increases, causing the hardness to drop.
But a high sliding velocity, v, means a high local
strain rate, and this raises the hardness. It turns out
that, for steel, the two effects roughly cancel. In
Appendix 5 a seizure equation is derived which
includes. through the simplest kinetic model, these
effects of temperature and strain rate. The result is
>I(22)
Da
1 1 _vr cJIn ‘0”
F = (1 + “,#‘2 2OT,,, (
where Tb is the bulk temperature [equation (8)] and
T,,, is the melting point. The seizure line on sub-
sequent figures is calculated from this equation.
5.1.2. Calibration of the seizure model. Figure 18
shows the seizure line, plotted on the usual axes (P
and a), using data from Table 2, with CI,= 12 and p
given by equation (9). Data from a number of high-
load tests on carbon steels (mild steel to 0.95 wt% C)
are plotted? and identified on the diagram. These are
the highest values of i: that we can find; it can be seen
that the seizure line lies, roughly, along the upper
edge of the data, as it should.
5.2. Melt wear
Localised melting can occur even at sliding veloci-
ties as modest as 1 m/s [85,86]. At higher velocities
tWhen data are plotted, they are normal&d by the actual
(quoted) hardness of the steel, or an estimate of it based
on carbon content, not by the “typical” value of HO
given in Table 2.
OVERVIEW NO. 55
(10-1000 m/s) the coefficient of friction drops to very
low values because a film of liquid metal forms at the
sliding interface giving “melt lubrication” [63, 87-901.
The liquid layer supports the normal load by the
usual hydrodynamic mechanism [91], but the heat
generated by viscous work in the layer continues to
melt more solid, so the wear rate is high even though
the coefficient of friction is low [21,92]. The metal
removed from the surfaces is ejected as sparks or hot
incandescent particles [64], or squirted out as a
molten stream [5].
5.2.1. The modelfor melt wear. It is well known that
when solids slide on ice or snow, friction-induced
melting generates a lubricating layer of water in just
this way. We adapt the analysis of this problem due
to Evans et al. [93] to the problem of melt wear of
steel. Consider the pin-on-disk geometry in Fig. 19:
part of the heat is conducted into the pin and the
disk, and part is absorbed as latent heat L (J/m3) in
melting a volume V,,,(m3) per second at the interface.
Then the heat flow equation of Section 4.1 is modified
to
aq= --K,VT+L> (23)
n
where aq is the rate of frictional heat input to the pin,
- K,VT is the rate of heat conduction into the pin
and LV,JA, is the rate of heat absorption by the
melting material. Substituting for q from equation (3)
and linearising as in Section 4.1 gives
W’v Km(Tm-T”)+LV,.
-= (24)
4 4 An
If all the metal which melts is ejected, the normalised
wear rate, IV, is simply
Rearranging equation (24) then gives the equation for
melt wear
I’
Sink temperature = To
PIN
‘A layer of
molten metal
DISK
Fig. 19. An ideahsed melt wear model. A layer of molten
metal is formed at the pin/disk interface when the bulk
temperature generated there reaches the melting point of the
metal.
 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55 13

SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s) perhaps, surprising: liquid metals have low visco-
sities, and (during melt wear) the pressures and
sliding velocities are enormous. So the liquid is
efficiently moved to the exit surface where it is easily
squirted or thrown out. Oxides (which we come to
next) have higher melting points and much higher
viscosities; they do not flow nearly so easily, and
transfer and ejection of molten oxide may require
much higher temperatures. This, perhaps, is why
there is a sudden drop in wear rate when stable oxides
form; the drop appears as a discontinuity in the wear
contours when they cross the field boundary from
the oxidational wear regime to the melt wear regime.
This field boundary is defined conveniently by the
bulk temperature contour for the melting point of
steel.

5.3. Oxidation-dominated wear

When steel surfaces slide at speeds below about
I m/s, the wear debris is largely metallic; above, it
NORMALISED VELOCITY “v
consists mainly of iron oxides [94-971. A velocity of
Fig. 20. Calibration of the melt wear model. The numbers 1 m/s is just sufficient to give flash temperatures
given against the points are log,,(p). (The references, in which will cause oxidation. The temperature map
order, are [21, 51.)
(Fig. 16) shows that the flash temperature depends
strongly on velocity, but hardly at all on load; at
with LX,p and T* given by equations (6), (9) and (7a), 1 m/s the flash temperature is near 700°C.
as before. A drop in wear rate is associated with the change
The temperature map (Fig. 16) shows that there is to oxide-debris [I 5, 23,26, 30, 31,751 though oxi-
a range of P and v’ in which asperities may melt, but dation alone may not explain its magnitude: part is
the entire surface does not. In this regime it is probably caused by martensite formation (Fig. 15).
obviously wrong to equate the wear rate to the But it is established that an oxide film forms on
volume of metal which has melted because as soon as sliding surfaces [9&100] and that above a critical
the asperity melts it flows, smearing over a cooler part velocity, wear is largely caused by the splitting off
of the surface where it resolidifies. Further, the of this film [loll. Around 1 m/s and at low loads. the
temperatures are high so that, in all but the most inert oxide film is thin, patchy and brittle. At higher
atmospheres, oxidation will compete with local melt- velocities (> 10 m/s) and higher loads the film
ing as the dominant wear mechanism. The experi- becomes thicker and continuous, covering the entire
mental evidence suggest oxidation wins. So we shall surface [9, 14,641. Under these conditions the fric-
postpone discussion of this regime to the next sub- tional heating is considerable; the metal is partly
section, in which oxidation is analysed. insulated by the overlying oxide [9] but the oxide itself
5.2.2. Calibration of the melt wear model. Figure 20 is hot enough that it can flow plastically or even melt.
shows contours of constant normalised wear rate, We therefore distinguish two regimes, both im-
@, calculated from equation (25) using the data portant, and both discussed below. Both are associ-
in Table 2, and plotted on the usual axes. They are ated with the range of sliding velocities in which
compared with data for bulk-melt wear of Mont- surface heating stimulates oxidation (this means
gomery [21] and of Kinsella and Childs [5]. There are o>-lm/sorfi>-lO*).Atthebottomendofthis
no adjustable parameters. Agreement is good. No range Aash temperatures are enough to cause local
special correction is needed to fit the data of Kinsella oxidation, but the oxide is, for most of the time, cold
and Childs [5] despite the fact that they used a and brittle. This is the first regime, which we will call
“disk-edge on block” not a “pin-on-disk” configur- mild-oxidational wear. At higher velocities, the oxide
ation: it is the contact dimension (r,) and the heat- is thicker, more continuous, and almost certainly
flow length (lb) which really matters, not the detailed hotter and more plastic, and the characteristics of the
geometry of the equipment. This adds to the body of wear process change. This is the second regime, which
evidence (of which more later) that the diagrams we will call severe-oxidational wear. The prefixes
broadly summarise wear for most unidirectional slid- “mild” and “severe” refer to the extent of oxidation,
ing configurations. not the wear rate (which is often lower during
One further point should be mentioned here. It severe-oxidational wear).
concerns an assumption of the model: that all the 5.3. I. The model of mild-oxidational weur. Over
metal that melted was lost; and the agreement with the last 25 years, mild-oxidational wear has been the
experiments suggests that this is indeed so. It is not, subject of intensive study. Much of the development
14 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55

originates in the work of Quinn [102] who marshalls

IF
convincing evidence that, in this regime, flash heating PIN
causes oxidation at contact points; that the oxide -v

thickens until, at a critical thickness (about 10 pm for

steel) it spalls off; and that these oxide-flakes are the
wear debris. (4
Attempts to model mild-oxidational wear were
made as early as 1962 [102]. The model was sub-
to high flash temperature T,
sequently developed and tuned [29,35, 101, 103,-1061
and an iterative technique was developed to deter- DISK

mine, from experimental wear rates, the values of the

parameters which appear in it (e.g. Quinn et al. [106]). b
PIN
The result we need can most easily be derived as -v
follows.
The oxidation of iron has parabolic kinetics [107].t
The mass of oxygen taken up by the oxide film per
unit area, Am, is
Am= = k,t (26) Thinner oxide films critical thickness ZC
ond breaks off
where kP is the parabolic rate constant and

1
DISK

k,= A,exp -3 (27)

[ RT ’ IF
PIN
Here A,, is the Arrhenius constant, Q, is the activation -v

energy for oxidation, R is the gas constant and T is

the absolute temperature. Consider now a sliding
surface with asperities which become hot enough to
oxidise. The oxide thickens and, when it reaches a
critical thickness Z,, it spalls off giving wear (Fig. 21).
It is adequate to assume that the average composition
of the oxide is Fe,O,, so that 1 mol of Fe requires
2/3 mol of O2 to form the oxide. If a volume AV,, of
iron is oxidised per unit area, the mass gained as a
result of the formation of oxide is
where pre is the density of iron, Mo, the molecular
weight of oxygen and M, that of iron. Substituting
this into equation (26), and noting that the thickness
Z of the oxide is simply equal to A VFe, gives
and breaks off
exposed metallic surface.
DISK
Fig. 21. An idealised mild-oxidational wear model. (a) The
oxide films formed at the asperity contacts (with a total area
of A,) grow according to a parabolic rate. (b) The critical
oxide thickness Z, is reached at one of the asperity contacts
and the oxide layer breaks off there. (c) The broken off
oxide layer becomes a wear fragment and an oxide layer is
again formed on the newly exposed metallic surface; while
the oxide film on another asperity contact has reached the
critical thickness Z, and has broken off.

z2 = C=k,t factor [equation (27)] with T = T,, giving

with (29) Zf
(30)
tc=C2A,exp[-Q,/RTfJ’
Wear is caused by this oxide breaking free, so that a
volume A,Z, is lost every t, seconds from the surface.
(using the data in Table 2 gives C = 3.4 x 10e4 During this time, the surfaces have slid through a
m3/kg). distance vt,, so the wear rate is

RT,
1
In the regime of mild-oxidational wear, the bulk A,Z, AC=A
heating is negligible (see Figs 8 and 16). Oxidation is w= =cexp -2%
caused by flash heating and must be confined to the vtc vZc [
asperity tips. The time taken to reach a critical oxide or in dimensionless variables (and using P = AJA,)
thickness Z, at an asperity is obtained by inverting
the last equation and replacing k, by the kinetic
lV=(F)exp[-&]% (31)

tYoshimoto and Tsukizoe [lOS] and Tenwick and Earles

[109] assume linear kinetics in their wear models; but for with Tf given by equation (17).
iron and steel’ the evidence is that oxidation is parabolic This is not exactly the same as Quinn’s equation
(e.g. Kubaschewski and Hopkins [107]). [106] but it is so close that, from the point of view of
 LIM and ASHBY:
this paper, they can be considered identical. A term
(r,/ZJ appears in Quinn’s equation but not in equa-
tion (31); it is due to his use of Archard’s law which
is based on Hertzian contact at the asperities. But
since Z,. N ra, the value of the extra term is always
close to unity.
5.3.2. Calibration of the mild-oxidational wear
equation. Everyone who tries to fit equation (31) (or
others like it) to wear data encounters the same
problem: the kinetic constant A, and Q0 inferred from
wear data do not agree with those measured in
standard, static, oxidation experiments (see for exam-
ple, Quinn et al. [106]).
Perhaps this is not surprising. The wear-oxide films
are thin; and they have grown under conditions of
severe mechanical loading. In using equation (31) A,
and Q, have to be treated as adjustable parameters,
chosen to fit measurements of wear rate. The activa-
tion energy Q, is not likely (according to Melgaard
and Srivastava [l lo]) to be much influenced by the
way the oxide grew, so we set Q, equal to that for
the static oxidation of iron (138 kJ/mol [107]). The
Arrhenius constant, A,,, on the other hand, shows an
immense spread. Even in static tests, the range is large
(10e2 to IO6kg2/m4s); under sliding conditions it
becomes enormous (lo3 to lOI kg2/m4s [106]). Our
goal here is a broad survey of wear mechanisms, so
we thought it justified to use the single value for A,,
(IO6 kg2/m4s) which gives the best general agreement
between experimental and predicted wear rates in the
mild-oxidational wear regime.
The degree of success can be judged from Fig. 22.
It shows contours of constant normalised wear rate.
@‘,calculated from equation (3 l), using equation (17)
for the flash temperature, using data which are
summarised in Table 2 and with C = 3.4 x 1O-4
m’/kg and Z, = 10 pm. Superimposed on the con-
tours are data points (for a wide range of steels, tested
at velocities smaller than 5 m/s) from Quinn and his
co-workers and from Archard and Hirst [12].
Behaviour in this regime is complicated by mar-
tensite formation. When a hot asperity loses contact,
it is quenched by conduction of heat into the under-
lying bulk which (as Fig. 16 shows) is still at room
temperature. The quench rate is high+asily high
enough to form martensite if the asperity reached the
A, temperature of the steel. The data plotted in
Fig. 22 shows a sudden drop in wear rate at higher
values of P and d; this, it is generally thought, is due
to martensite (which is observed to form just here-
see Fig. 15). When martensite forms the surface is
suddenly harder (H, increases) and in compression
(because the volume increases). A harder surface
means a smaller value of r’ = F/A, H,, and thus
[equation (31)] a suddently lower wear rate. This, we
believe, goes a long way toward explaining the tran-
sition, though the role of the oxide in preventing
direct metallic contact may contribute too. But it
makes a careful comparison of model and experiment
even more difficult. We have tried to overcome this
OVERVIEW NO. 55 15
by giving two values of wear rate for each contour.
The first are those given by equation (31) with
H, = 1 GPa; the second (in parentheses) are 100 times
smaller, reflecting the increase in H, caused by mar-
tensite formation.
With this degree of complexity, and with the use of
A, as an adjustable parameter, one cannot claim the
equation (31) is a complete description of mild-
oxidational wear. But the physical basis of Quinn’s
model (on which the equation is based) has consider-
able experimental support. The equation, though
imperfect, is the best we have got. We will proceed,
using equation (31) for mild-oxidational wear.
5.3.3. Severe-oxidational wear. When the sliding
velocity is greater than about lOm/s, surface oxi-
dation becomes more severe, though the rate of wear
may actually decrease. This regime has not been
studied in as much detail as the last; such evidence as
is available suggests that oxidation is general and that
the temperatures are high enough for the oxide to
become plastic and melt locally to a viscous liquid,
though the underlying metal does not melt. We
cannot find any model describing this form of oxi-
dational wear. An attempt is made below to develop
one.
5.3.4. The model for severe-oxidational wear.
Higher velocities generate higher temperatures
(Fig. 16) with two consequences. The extent of
oxidation is obviously greater; surface observations
in this regime show continuous, thicker, oxide
[9,14,64]. And the points of contact between the
oxide-coated surfaces are so hot that the oxide there
must, locally, melt and flow (see Figs 8 and 16).
SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)
NORMALISED VELOCITY e
Fig. 22. Calibration of the mild-oxidational wear model.
The numbers given against the points are log,,(w). The
normalised wear rates given in parentheses are the values the
predicted wear rates would change to as a result of the
switching from severe to mild wear. (The references, in
order, are [12,24,23, 29, 331.)
16 LIM and ASHBY:
Without melting, heat transfer is by conduction
alone; when the asperities melt and smear, fluid flow
transfers heat as well. The most important con-
tribution comes from the latent heat of melting. A
melting asperity absorbs latent heat; the molten
material flows and spreads across the adjacent,
cooler, surface and there it solidifies again, releasing
its latent heat. So asperity melting is a way of
redistributing the heat input to the surface in a more
uniform way. Since an asperity spreads as soon as it
melts, the “dynamic” flash temperature is limited to
the melting point of the oxide; the high “static” flash
temperatures predicted by equation (17) are not
reached. The metal which lies beneath the oxide sees
a uniform, not a localised, heat input, and its tem-
perature is then limited to the bulk temperature, r,.
That is why there is no melting of the underlying
metal even though the “static” flash temperatures
appear to be very high.
We will assume that, in melting, spreading and
resolidifying, a fraction f, of all the material which
melts is lost as wear fragments. This we calculate in
the following way. The sliding surfaces make contact
through asperities (Fig. 23) which are heavily oxi-
dised. Frictional heating causes their tips to melt;
they smear, spreading the viscous, molten oxide over
the surface and redistributing the heat. The tem-
perature of the contacts is “buffered” at the melting
point of the oxide, Tz. Although the heat is initially
generated at asperities, the smearing gives a more
nearly uniform heat input so that the immediate
subsurface is at the bulk temperature, Tb [equation
(S)]. Consider the heat input into one contact at
some instant in time: an amount gq is injected into the
surface per unit of (nominal) area per second; some
of this is conducted into the asperities; the rest melts
the asperity tip. Figure 23 shows that the loss of heat
by conduction in simply
IF
PIN
l+
Sink temperoture=Tb
Heatinput 5 uq J/m’s
oxidised
Size = zr,
DISK
Fig. 23. An idealised severe-oxidational wear model. The
asperities are assumed to have completely oxidised and thin
layers of molten oxide are formed at the asperity contacts.
OVERVIEW NO. 55
where I, is the equivalent linear heat-flow length (we
have set 4 = pr,). [This result can be understood by
noting that - (Tz - T,)/Z( is the approximate tem-
perature gradient, AJA, is the fraction of the surface
into which heat can be conducted, and K,, is the
thermal conductivity of the oxide.] The remaining
heat is available to melt a volume V,,, of oxide, per
unit area per second, so that
K,,(TE - TI,) A,
L,,V,=c(q - (32)
4 0 A,
where L,, is the latent heat of melting of the
oxide. Using equation (3) for q, and noting that
IV = f, V,/v gives
K,,, (T; - T,,) (&V)‘”
ti=f,
Loxa Pfi
27- 11 (33)
’
with tl given by equation (6) and T,, given by equation
(8) and N by equation (11). Strictly speaking, the
presence of a thick layer of oxide at the asperity
contact modifies the division of heat there and
changes the parameter CI:it is easier for the frictional
heat to be injected into the cooler and less oxidised
surface of the disk than into the thicker oxide of the
pin. We have considered this and found that it is a
small effect. The value of tl given by equation (6) is
adequate for our present purposes. We note further
that, in the range of F and B characteristics of this
mechanism, bulk heating is small so that T,c TO. We
have used Tb in computing the diagram shown below,
but using TO in its place makes little difference.
5.3.5. Calibration of the model for severe-
oxidational wear. Figure 24 shows contours of nor-
malised wear rate, calculated from equation (33) and
plotted on the usual axes, using the data of Table 2.
There is one adjustable parameter: f,, the fraction of
molten oxide which is lost. We found that f, = 0.01
gives a good fit to the data of Earles and Kadhim [14],
Powell and Earles [9] and Cocks [7] (for low and high
carbon steel) which are plotted on the figure. Later
diagrams use equation (33) with this value off,.
5.4. Plasticity-dominated wear: adhesion and delami-
nation
\ At sliding velocities below about 0.1 m/s. surface
heating (Fig. 16) is negligible. Then the effect of the
Tf frictional force is to deform the metal surface, shear-
ing it in the sliding direction (e.g. Archard and Hirst
[12]; Suh [41]; Rigney [ill]; and many others). The
1 shearing causes plastic failure: the removal of slivers
of metal from one or both surfaces. When one surface
is softer than the other, metal may be transferred
from the soft to the hard surface. When both are
equally hard (as here), flakes or particles of metallic
wear debris form and, ultimately, escape from be-
tween the surfaces. In this regime, the wear rate
follows Archard’s law [ 1121which, in the terminology
 LIM and ASHBY:
SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)
NORMALISED VELOCITY ^i;
Fig. 24. Calibration of the severe-oxidational wear model.
The numbers given against the points are log,, (@). (The
references, in order, are [7,9,14].)
of this paper, is simply
(34)
where k, is the Archard wear coefficient (typical
values: 10~5-10-3).
If slivers of metal are removed, then cracks must
nucleate and propagate (on a microscopic scale, of
course) to allow separation of the wear fragment
from its parent surface. Models for plasticity-
dominated wear seek to identify and analyse the
nucleation and growth of these cracks. And there is
a host of models: some idea is given by the following
list.
(a) Models based on adhesion between asperities
date from Archard’s early work [112] and they have
been further developed [108, 113-I 151. The idea is
that touching asperities stick together; subsequent
sliding shears or plucks off the tip of the softer
asperity, leaving it adhering to the harder surface,
from which it may later become detached, giving a
wear fragment.
(b) Delamination-models [41,45, 1161 most nearly
describe the microstructural observations during
severe plasticity-dominated wear. Here the idea is
that unidirectional shearing of the metal surface
nucleates subsurface voids; these extend and link to
give crack beneath and parallel to the surface; and
when crack is large enough it breaks out to give a
flake-like wear particle. Fracture mechanics has been
applied to the problem [117-1251; and microscopic
ideas based on cell structures have been invoked to
explain the size of the wear fragments [ 111, 126-l 321.
(c) Models based on fatigue crack propagation
have been developed [112, 133-1381. The idea here is
that the local plasticity during wear has a cyclic
OVERVIEW NO. 55 17
component so that a correlation should exist between
wear resistance and fatigue strength.
Any model for plasticity-dominated wear depends
on an understanding of the plastic flow-$eld at and
near the contacting surfaces. This is provided by the
slip-line field analyses of Johnson [80], Bates et al.
[ 1391 and Collins [81]. From these, a point of im-
portance in interpreting experiments emerges: if the
coefficient of friction /* is less than about 0.3, the
plastic flow-field beneath a sliding pin is contained (it
does not break through to the surface); then the
plastic strain accumulated per pass is small. But when
p is greater than 0.3, the flow-field breaks through to
the surface and the plastic strain per pass can be
large. This suggests two regimes of wear, depending
on the value of p. Two regimes are certainly observed
(e.g. Archard and Hirst [12]).
In mild (low load) delamination wear, direct metal-
to-metal contact is thought to be prevented by the
presence of a thin (a few A) but tough layer of oxide.
Being thin, the layer can deform elastically and is not
ruptured by the light loads, and the coefficient of
friction is low. The black oxide powder normally
observed in mild wear is generated from this layer
and perhaps from small metallic fragments which are
removed and oxidised. The damaged surface quickly
reoxidises, avoiding further metal-to-metal contact
between the sliding surfaces. At higher loads the
oxide is penetrated. The increase in friction causes a
dramatic increase in the plastic shear strain accumu-
lation in the subsurface, and in the rate of wear
[12, 17, 26,31,40].
5.4.1. The model for plasticity-dominated wear. In
the plasticity-dominated regime, Archard’s law
(w = kAF) is obeyed. Those who attempt to model
the mechanism (cited above) seek to derive this law,
and to elucidate the physical content of the dimen-
sionless constant k,. Much evidence points to the
nucleation of cracks just below the surface which
propagate, at first parallel to the surface, but later
breaking out to give a metallic wear fragment. The
modelling of this delamination is associated, above
all, with the name of Suh. The model we now develop
differs in some details from that of Suh (it involves
the formation of a mode II crack by plastic hole
growth, and does not invoke fracture mechanics); but
the underlying ideas draw heavily on his work and
the final result is very like his.
The ideas are these. The frictional traction on the
sliding surface causes accumulating plastic shear
[140], as shown in Fig. 25. Voids nucleate at inclu-
sions below the surface [lo, 411 and grow by the
mechanism of shear-fracture described by Teirlinck et
al. [141]. The voids lie at a characteristic depth
[121, 1421 probably determined by a balance between
the hydrostatic compression beneath a contacting
asperity (which tends to suppress void nucleation)
and the plastic shear strain (which tends to cause it);
the characteristic depth is typically of the same order
as the size of an asperity (10 pm) [lo, 41, 1431. Figure
18 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55

depth X0 needed to produce this failure is Y*, then

fX
y*=2f,.

The “life” of the surface is related to the number

n* of passes required to build up the plastic shear
strain to cause failure
y* =n*y, (36)
where y,, is the plastic shear strain accumulated per
pass. After n* passes, a wear fragment of thickness
X0 detaches itself, so the wear rate is

W=---&A,
n*l

where 1 is the distance between asperity contacts. But

(from the equation above)

C-4 n*=- _fz (37)

2f”YO
and
r, A
-_=‘= P
a. An
giving
w
-=- 2KYJ+
A” r,fX
If we take X0 to be equal to the asperity radius r,, we
(4 have

Fig. 25. An ideahsed plasticity-dominated (delamination) @-2Y”f,&k p

wear model. (a) Voids nucleate around the inclusions at a
critical depth X0 under the influence of plastic shear strain
(i). The continuous shearing action and compression cause
the shape of the voids to change (ii) and (iii), while the area
fraction of voids increases. (b) Photomicrographs of the
void formation around inclusions and crack propagation
from these voids near the surface in annealed Fe-1.3% MO.
(From Suh et al. [IO]. Copyright American Society of
Mechanical Engineers. Reproduced by permission.) (c) The
voids around the inclusions on a plane parallel to and at a
depth X0 below the sliding surface. y is the cumulative
plastic shear strain there.
25 shows that the area fraction of voids, fA, on a
plane parallel to and at a depth X, below the sliding
surface is
fA = 6%NV)(2ri1G%Y ) N ‘X Y (35)
where ri is the radius of an inclusion, NVis the number
of inclusions per unit volume, y is the cumulative
plastic shear strain, and f, is the volume fraction of
the inclusions. When this area fraction fA reaches a
critical value, f 2, (say 0.5), fast fracture causes a wear
flake to break off. If the shear strain at the critical
TThe data points on Fig. 26 extend into the mild-oxidational
wear regime. In this are of overlap, the two mechanisms
can coexist.
(38)
fX *.
This is simply Archard’s law [I 121with k, = 2y,f,/f 2.
5.4.2. Calibration of the model for plasticity-
dominated wear. Calibration of Archard’s law simply
requires a value (or values) of k,. The data-plots
for steels (Figs l-6) are consistent with two values.
When wear is mild
k,= 5 x lO-5 (39a)
and when it is severe
k,=5x 10-3. (39b)
Figure 26 shows wear-rate contours, calculated by
using these values of kA , superimposed on data, most
of it from papers by Archard and Suht.
The model gives insight into the origin of these
values. Taking y0 = 1 %, f, = 10m3and f 2 = 0.5 gives
k, = 4 x 10m5, which is of the right order for mild
delamination wear. The corresponding value for the
severe delamination wear is about 100 times greater
requiring that the plastic shear strain per pass to
increase from 1 to loo%, which is not an unreason-
able estimate in the severe wear as shown by Archard
and Hirst [12]. The model leads to the additional
conclusion that the wear rate should depend on the
inclusion content of the material. In constructing the
 LIM and ASHBY:
SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)
NORMALISED VELOCITY v study; and the delamination-wear
Fig. 26. Calibration of the plasticity-dominated (delami-
nation) wear model. Broken lines are used to represent the
estimated normalised wear rates in the ultra-mild wear
regime. The numbers given against the points are log,, (m).
To avoid congestion, only selected data points from one
source are shown, mainly to indicate a change in wear rate.
The normahsed wear rate given in parentheses is the value
for a mild wear condition. The transition between mild and
severe plasticity-dominated wear takes place over a range
of normalised pressures as indicated by the shaded region.
(The references, in order, are [4,6,8,30, l&-13,40, 16, 17,
19, 201.)
wear map shown presently, we have used the two
values of k, given above, switching from the smaller
to the larger at a normalised pressure P of 3 x 10m4.
5.5. Ultra-mild wear
There is a regime in the low load and low velocity
area where very little wear takes place. This is the
ultra-mild wear regime where the thin but tenacious
oxide film is never penetrated and no metal-to-metal
contact occurs. No wear model is available for this
regime; nor are data adequate to permit calibration
if there was one. The approximate position of the
regime is shown on the wear map, but wear rates are
not computed.
5.6. Summary of wear modeIs and equations
Five simple analytical models for the dominant
wear mechanisms have been described and calibrated
using experimental wear-rate data obtained primarily
from pin-on-disk wear tests. Two-those for seizure
and for melt wear-contain no adjustable parame-
ters, and they agree well with the experimental data
in their respective regimes of dominance. The other
three-mild- and severe-oxidational wear, and de-
lamination wear, do contain adjustable parameters;
the function of the “calibration” procedure is to set
them. But having set them using data from one
OVERVIEW NO. 55 19
source, agreement with data from other sources is
good.
The wear-rate equations are expressed in terms of
the normalised variables F, u’ and m. The idea of
normalising is to remove some of the material prop-
erties and geometric features of the experiments,
and make data from diverse tests more nearly com-
parable. It seems to work. We have found that data
from steels (ranging from pure iron to tool steel) and
from a number of test geometries (not just the
pin-on-disk configuration which we took as a stan-
dard) fall together in a sensible way when plotted on
these axes.
It is obvious that the models badly need further
refinement. In particular, the transition from severe
to mild wear during mild-oxidational wear (caused, it
is thought, by martensite formation) is inadequately
modelled (these transitions are discussed elsewhere
[144]); severe-oxidational wear needs more detailed
model requires a
better understanding of subsurface plasticity and the
way it causes subsurface cracks to nucleate and grow.
And certain other mechanisms (such as ultra-mild
wear) are still inadequately modelled.
But despite these reservations, the underlying phys-
ical basis of the dominant wear mechanisms is toler-
ably well understood. We now assemble these, and
the equations for bulk and flash temperatures, into a
model-based wear map. The wear equations are
summarised in Table 4.
6. WEAR-MECHANISM MAPS
6.1. The wear -mechanism map
There are, then, a number of distinct mechanisms
of wear: plasticity-dominated wear, oxidation-
dominated wear, melt-dominated wear, and so on.
Each can be divided into sub-mechanisms: mild- and
severe-oxidational wear, for example. Each has a
characteristic range of dominance, that is, a field of
load F and velocity u in which it contributes more to
the wear rate than any other mechanism.
Each mechanism can be described by a normalised
wear-rate equation of the form
W = f (P, 6, material properties) (40)
where m, P and 5 are defined by equation (2); and
each of these equations can be calibrated by adjusting
parameters in it to give the best fit to data for wear
within the field (as we did for steel in Section 5).
It is then possible to construct model-based wear-
mechanism diagrams. The axes are the usual ones we
have used throughout this paper: F and 6. The range
of values we wish to cover is large, so it is convenient
to use log scales (that is, log F and log 6) and to
allow P to range from 10e5 to 10, and B to range from
lo-* to 105; in this way the diagram covers almost the
entire range of all reported wear experiments.
On these axes it is now possible to draw the field
of dominance of each mechanism by evaluating each
20 LIM and ASHBY:
Table 4. The simplified wear-rale equations
Seizure
Mild-oxidational wear
Severe-oxidational wear
Plasticity-dominated wear
@‘=k APwith k =%
A fX
With the following definitions
1
a = 2 + /3(nv‘/8)“2
p = 0.78 - 0.13 log,, (I?)
$ )(I -n+1
NC
0
1
T, = 300 K
T, and Tt are given in Table 3
equation in turn, selecting the one which gives the
largest value of I?. Field boundaries are the lines
along which two mechanisms give equal rate: they are
plotted by equating pairs of wear-rate equations and
solving for P in terms of ~7.Onto these fields are
plotted contours of constant normal&d wear rate, b?,
obtained by evaluating the wear-rate equation for the
dominant mechanism in each field.
The result of doing this for steel is shown in
Fig. 27. The diagram displays the results of the
heat-flow analysis and modelling of Sections 4 and 5,
each step of which was separately calibrated to
experiment. It can be regarded as a summary of the
wear behaviour of dry steel on steel, over all practical
loads and velocities.
It may be helpful to itemise in slightly more detail
the general procedure for constructing such dia-
grams. It is laid out below in a way which should
allow maps to be constructed for other materials.
6.2. General procedure for constructing maps
A wear map for a pair of material is constructed
by the following steps.
(a) Wear data are collected for the sliding pair, for
the chosen geometry (though, within limits, different
OVERVIEW NO. 55
equation (22)
equation (25)
equation (31)
equation (33)
equation (38)
equation (2)
equation (6)
equation (7a)
equation (7b)
equation (9)
equation (1 I)
geometries lead to the same map because of the
norrnalised axes), together with any information
about the dominant mechanism. The data are tabu-
lated, listing the load F and velocity v for each wear
rate W.
(b) Information is sought from each study to
identify the nominal area A, (the area of the pin end,
for example) and the hardness H,,, together with the
thermal properties, u, K, L etc.
(c) Using this information, values of the nor-
malised variables F, 6 and I? are added to the table,
and, as far as possible, a mechanism is assigned to
each data point.
(d) The normalised data are plotted in the way
illustrated by Figs l-6, identifying the mechanisms by
appropriate plotting symbols. Approximate bound-
aries are sketched in by eye enclosing blocks of data
with a common mechanism, in order to identify the
subsets of data which will be used to calibrate each
wear-rate equation (see Fig. 8).
(e) The bulk and flash temperature at the sliding
interface are calculated from equations (8) and (17)
or (if necessary) straight forward modifications of
these to allow for a drastically different geometry, or
the division of heat between two dissimilar materials.
The results are checked, and recalibrated if necessary,
 LIM and ASHBY:
SLIDING VELOCITY v (m/s)
/
I I I I I I
‘” ,o-2 2
1 10‘
NORMALISED “ELO:TV v
Fig. 27. The wear-mechanism map for a steel sliding pair
using the pin-on-disk configuration. Contours of constant
normalised wear rates are superimposed on fields showing
the regimes of dominances of different wear mechanisms.
There are discontinuities in the contours when they cross the
field boundaries into the regimes of severe-oxidational wear
and melt wear. The wear rates given in parentheses are the
values when mild wear takes place. The shaded regions
indicate a transition between mild and severe wear.
against any available experimental indicators of tem-
perature (phase changes, direct temperature measure-
ments etc) in the way illustrated in Section 4. It is
essential that the tem~rature equations are properly
formulated, since they enter most of the wear-rate
equations.
(f) Each wear-rate equation is now compared with
the appropriate block of data [identified under (d),
above] and calibrated to give an acceptable fit. New
material (ceramics, for example) may involve new
mechanisms; and, even for metals, it will be obvious
that mechanisms exist which we have, in this initial
study, ignored. So it may be necessary to seek new
models and new calibrations to include them.
(g) The wear-m~hanism map is then calculated
from the temperature and wear-rate equations
(Tables 3 and 4). in the way described in Section 6.1.
This is most easily done numerically (using an IBM
PC for instance) by stepping through values of F and
6, evaluating all the equations at each point and
identifying the dominant mechanism as the one which
gives the largest value of i8’. The wear-rate contours
are plotted by selecting the largest @, and the field
boundaries are plotted by identifying the points at
which the dominant mechanism changes.
6.3. ~on~~us~o~s und ~~rnrnar.~
It appears practica1 to construct wear-mechanism
diagrams which show the wear rate, and the regime
of dominance, of each of a number of competing
OVERVIEW NO. 55 21
mechanisms of wear. The method is developed for the
unlubricated wear of steel on steel (Fig. 27); there are
no obvious obstacles to applying it to other materials,
or combinations of materials. The diagrams sum-
marise the wear behaviour over a wide range of load
and sliding velocity, identifying the dominant mech-
anism and showing the overall wear-rate.
The diagrams use normalised variables. So many
mechanisms and material properties are involved in
describing wear that there is no hope of constructing
a universal diagram which describes all materials, or
even all metals. But the normalised axes do allow for
the most important effects of surface hardness, ther-
mal conductivity and sample geometry, and allow
data from different test geometries, and different
variants of the same materials, to be plotted together:
a single diagram does describe, approximately, the
wear behaviour of a wide range of steels.
Finally, a warning. Wear diagrams constructed in
the way we have described are only as good as the
models and data used to construct them-and both
leave much room for improvement. The map shown
here should be regarded as a first approximation
only. A wear map is a summary of the current,
imperfect, understanding (like a phase-diagram), not
an exact statement (like a wiring diagram). It must
never be regarded as precise.
~~~~~~~e~~e~~~f~~ne of the authors (S.C.L.) would like
to thank the National University of Singapore for the award
of a scholarship as well as granting him study leave to
undertake this piece of work. We also wish to acknowledge
the numerous discussions with Professor K. L. Johnson,
Professor D. Tabor and Professor D. A. Rigney and many
others, which have been of the greatest assistance in formu-
lating the mechanisms.
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 LIM and ASHBY: OVERVIEW NO. 55 23

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APPENDIX 1: THE NUMBER OF
107. 0. Kubashewski and B. E. Hopkins, Oxidation of
Metals and Alloys, 2nd edn. Butterworths, London CONTACTING ASPERITIES
(1962). Figure Al shows an idealised pin end with contacts (black
108. G. Yoshimoto and T. Tsukizoe, Wear 1,472 (1957/58).
squares) distributed randomly on it. Each “unit asperity’
109. N. Tenwick and S. W. E. Earles, Wear 18,381 (1971).
has radius ra, and area nra. The sum of these areas is the
110. J. Mslgaard and V. K. Srivastava, Wear 41, 263
real area of contact A,. The number of asperities increases
(1977).
1 Il. D. A. Rigney, Proc. Int. Conf. Fundamentals of Tribo-
logy, MIT, Cambridge, Mass, p. 119. MIT Press,
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112. J. F. Archard J. appl. Phys. 24, 981 (1953). ‘black’
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120. 0. Vingsbo, Proc. Int. Conf. Wear of Materials, Dear- r, >> r.
2 r0
born, Michigan, p. 620. (1979).
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122. A. R. Rosenfield, Wear 61, 125 (1980).
Fig. A 1. An idealised pin end
123. A. R. Rosenfield, presented at: Am. Sot., Metal.
Mater. Sci. Semin., Pittsburgh, Pa (1980).
124. A. R. Rosenfield, Wear 72, 245 (1981). as the normal load F increases. Consider adding an addi-
125. A. R. Rosenfield, Proc. Int. Conf. Wear of Materials, tional number dN of unit asperity to the number N already
Reston, Virginia, p. 390. Am. Sot. Mech. Engrs. there, at random. The probability that a new contact will be
(1983). adjacent to an old one (and thus does not increase the true
126. J. P. Hirth and D. A. Rigney, Wear 39, 133 (1976) number of separated contact Nr) is
127. R. C. Bill and D. Wisander, Wear 41, 351 (1977).
128. N. P. Suh and N. Saka, Wear 44, 135 (1977).
129. D. A. Rigney and W. A. Glaeser, Wear 46,241 (1978).
130. D. A. Rigney and J. P. Hirth, Wear 53, 345 (1979). where r) is a constant
p=q
0 +
n

near unity. The probability of not

131. D. A. Rigney, L. H. Chen, M.G.S. Naylor and A. R. doing this (and thus the probability of creating a true new
Rosenfield, Wear 100, 195 (1984). contact) is, of course, 1-P. Then the true number of new
132. J. Don and D. A. Rigney, Wear 105, 63 (1985). contacts, dN,, is related to the number added dN by
133. L. Rozeanu, Wear 6, 337 (1963).
134. K. Endo and Y. Fukuda, Proc. 8th Japan Gong on dN,=[l -,)(:)]dN.
Testing Materials, Kyoto, Japan, p. 69. Sot. Mater.
Sci., Japan (1965). But Nrtrz = A,. Using this to substitute for dN gives
135. I. V. Kraghelski, Fricfion and Wear. Butterworths,
London (1965). dN,=($)(l ++)d(:)
136. E. F. Finkin, Wear 47, 107 (1978).
137. R. A. Smith, Proc. Int. Conf. Fundamenlals of Tribo- Integrating, using the limiting result that NT = I when
logy, MIT, Cambridge, Mass, p. 605. MIT Press, A,/A, = 1, and substituting e = A,/A, gives
Cambridge, Mass. (1978).
138. Y. Kimura, presented at: Am. Sot. Metal. Mater. Sci. N =N,= 5
‘p(l -F)+ I. (Al)
Semin. Pittsburgh, Pa (1980). 0 rr
139. T. R. Bates Jr, K. C. Ludema and W. A. Brainard, The predictions of this equation are in good agreement
Wear 30, 365 (1974). with the experimental results of Quinn and Winer 170) who
140. J. E. Merwin and K. L. Johnson, Proc. Inst. Mech. found N ranged from 4 to 10 when Franged from 1.2 x IO-”
Engrs, 177, 676 (1963). to 6.6 x 10m4. Equation (Al) gives N = 4 to 16 for this load
141. D. Teirlinck, J. D. Embury and M. F. Ashby, Acfa range, assuming a “unit asperity” to have a radius of 10m3m
metail. (1987). In press. and the pin to have a radius of 1.5 x 10 -‘rn.
24 LIM and ASHBY:
APPENDIX 2: THE APPROPRIATE
HEAT-FLOW EQUATION FOR
FLASH HEATING
The temperature produced by injecting an energy density
aq’ J/m% into an area art (the area of an asperity contact)
is well approximated by [61,72]
where t is the time of injection, K,,, is the thermal conduc-
tivity, and a is the fraction of the energy q’ [equation (IO)]
which enters the pin. We identify the injection time t with the
transit time of an asperity on the pin over one on the disk
2r
tz-2
V
where v is sliding velocity. Using equation (lo), and con-
verting to the dimensionless variables t7, T* [equations (2)
and (7a)] gives
Tf= Ti+zr,T*ii tan-l
r.
This expression has two simple limits, one of which is
relevant to the present problem. When 17is sufficiently large
the arctangent becomes equal to its argument, giving
112
T,= r’, + 2ap T*6”* > .
0 0
When, instead, v”is sufficiently small, the arctangent tends to
the value n/2, giving
The transition occurs, to an adequate approximation,
the argument is 1, that is, when
The calculation of the flash temperature is relevant only
when it is less than the melting point of the sliding surfaces;
when the asperities melt, the local temperature is limited
to the melting temperatures, and a different calculation
(Section 5.2) becomes relevant. For the values of ~1and T*
relevant for steel (Table 2), this requires that the normalised
velocity D be less than roughly 5 x 102. So to a first
approximation, equation (A4) is the one we want (Archard
[30] reaches the same conclusion). If further sophistication
is required, it should be replaced by equation (A2).
APPENDIX 3: THE “FLASH”
TEMPERATURE NEAR SEIZURE
The sink temperature for flash heating, Ti, was identified,
in Section 4.2, with the bulk (or average) surface tem-
perature, T,. Almost always the approximation is comple-
tely adequate. But there is, at very high loads, the exception-
al circumstance of seizure; then the asperity radius grows
until it is equal to the nominal contact radius, r,,, and the
sink temperature for flash heating becomes identical to that
for bulk heating (i.e. To). To include this special case we write
T:= Tb- ; (Tb-To)
0 fall, but increasing the strain rate causes it to rise. In sliding,
where ra/rO is given by equation (16). The flash heating
equation [equation (17)] is then modified to
It reduces to equation (17) under all except the extreme limit
of P % 1, when the modification has the effect of pulling the
flash temperature contours and the bulk temperature con-
tours together. In computing the figures, equation (A5)
rather than equation (17) has been used.
OVERVIEW NO. 55
APPENDIX 4: CORRECTION FOR
THE EFFECT OF AN OXIDE FILM
The presence of an oxide film increases the asperity tem-
perature by increasing the resistance to heat flow. In the
one-dimensional approximation (Fig. A2), the oxide, of
thickness Z, contributes an additional (series) resistance to
metal Sink temperature = TJ
642) hl
Fig. A2. The oxide film at an asperity contact.
the diffusive path, of length I,. At steady state, the effective
thermal conductivity K, is given by summing the resistances
of the oxide (Z/K,,) and of the metal [(/, - Z)/k,], giving
where K,,, and K,,, are the thermal conductivity values for
metal and oxide respectively, and we have set I, = j?r,. Using
an average thermal conductivity value K,, = 3.2 J/msK for
magnetite and hematite [145], and a value of X;, = 41 J/msk
for steel gives a value of 14 J/msk for the effective thermal
conductivity K, when Z = 1Opm. We may then define a
modified equivalent temperature
(A4)
when
which we have used this, where appropriate, in the calcu-
lations.
APPENDIX 5: THE HARDNESS AS A
FUNCTION OF TEMPERATURE
AND STRAIN RATE
The local strain rates (i u v/r,) in sliding friction are high:
typically they range from 10 to 106/s. At these rates, metals
respond in a way which is best modelled by low-temperature
plasticity (“dislocation glide”) rather than by creep, even at
high temperature [3]. We therefore describe the current
hardness at a surface temperature T and strain rate 1. by
/=&exp[-%(I--:)1
where H is the hardness at temperature T and strain rate i,
Ho is the hardness at room temperature, and i, and AF are
the pre-exponential constant and the activation energy for
dislocation glide. The last are tabulated by Frost and Ashby
[3], but for present purposes it is sufficient to note that, for
most metals, AF/RT,,, = 20 and i,, ‘v 106/s. Inversion gives,
to an adequate approximation
X= 1 -~(~)ln@).
0
Note that increasing the temperature causes the hardness to
both T and i are determined by the velocity v: for steel the
competing effects of Tand i roughly cancel. At the next level
of approximation, we identify T with the bulk temperature,
Tb, and noting that 5 5 v/r,, we obtain the correction factor
for the change of hardness with frictional heating
W)
This has been used in equation (22) of the text to calculate
the seizure line.