Sliding wear: role of plasticity

Abstract

We present experimental wear data for polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) sliding on tile, sandpaper, and polished steel surfaces, as well as for soda-lime, borosilicate, and quartz glass sliding on sandpaper. The results are compared with a recently developed theory \cite{ToBe} of sliding wear based on crack propagation (fatigue), originally formulated for elastic contact and here extended to include plasticity. The elastoplastic wear model predicts wear rates that agree reasonably well with the experimental results for PMMA and soda-lime glass. However, deviations observed for quartz suggest that material-specific deformation mechanisms, particularly the differences between crystalline and amorphous structures, may need to be considered for accurate wear predictions across different materials. In addition, the model reveals a non-monotonic dependence of the wear rate on the penetration hardness $\sigma_{\rm P}$. Thus, for plastically soft material, the wear rate increases with increasing $\sigma_{\rm P}$, while for hard materials, it decreases. This contrasts with Archard's wear law, where the wear rate decreases monotonically with increasing $\sigma_{\rm P}$.