Wear debris chemical properties

As in the case of corrosion failures, the sequence of steps involved in analyzing wear failures are initial examination of the failed component including service conditions to establish the mode or combination of modes of wear failure, metallographic examination to check if the microstructure of the worn part met the specification, both in the base material and in the hardened case or applied surface coatings, existence of localized phase transformations, shear or cold worked surfaces, macroscopic and microscopic hardness testing to determine the proper heat treatment, X-ray and electron diffraction analysis to determine the composition of abrasives, wear debris, surface elements and microstructural features such as retained austenite, chemical analysis of wear debris surface films and physical properties such as viscosity and infrared spectral determination of the integrity of lubricants and abrasive characteristics of soils or minerals in the cases of wear failures of tillage tools. 

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