Specific wear energy in high-stress abrasion of metals

A certain amount of mechanical work is always needed for wear to occur in an operational system. The estimation of this work based on the measured electrical energy input is, however, usually quite difficult. The dual pivoted jaw crusher was designed to allow accurate wear and work measurements during the tests, enabling the division of consumed energy to specific wear and crushing energy portions. The major contributors to the specific wear energy are the frictional contacts during the sliding movement. In this work, high stress abrasion wear tests were conducted with several metals ranging from pure aluminum and copper to carbide-reinforced steels, and the specific wear energy was correlated to several material properties. The results show a linear correlation between some of the material properties and the specific wear energy, whereas a similar comparison of the material properties with the amount of wear or work done during the tests yields a non-linear correlation.