Ductile polymers, abrasive wear

Abrasive Wear. Abrasive wear(18) is common for brittle, ductile and elastomeric polymers. Abrasion is the wear by displacement of materials from surfaces in relative motion caused by the presence of hard protruberanees or by the presence of hard particles either between the surfaces or embedded in one of them. As a result, microploughing, microshearing or microcutting can occur. Thus, fracture energetics and contact mechanics are involved in analyzing the wear results. We shall discuss briefly the wear rate with respect to different types of polymers. 

Abrasive wear in polyethylene occurs when the surfaee of a sample is removed by contact with a counterface with which it is in relative motion. The surfaces of the polymer and the counterface are always rough to some extent, either by design or due to the inescapable consequences of fabrication. Thus there are always asperities that protrude above the level of the surrounding surface. It is these asperities that make contact and are sites for ductile tearing failure. Asperities may be sharp and incisive, as in the case of those found on inorganic counterfaces, such as stainless steel and emery paper, or rounded and deformable, as in the case of those found on polymer surfaces. Sharp asperities cut and scour surfaces smooth ones act by adhesion to viscoelastically shear the surface. 

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