Adhesive wear ( cold weld wear )

Adhesive wear is generally the most important type of wear at all non-lubricated moving parts, or moving parts which operate at partly lubricated conditions. Coldwelding describes the formation of small connections whereby tiny disruptions arise during translation. These disruptions leave small malformations at the surface, called adhesive wear. Materials with a limited capacity to dissolve in another material will generally show up a limited tendency to coldweld formation. The roughness of a material can of course add a ( temporally ) grinding component to the wearprocess.

Conditions: non-lubricated / free of abrasive medium / no protection gas Speed: 0,7 m/sec Load: 23,14 and 36,8 N Temperature: 30 C Average test time per pin: 5 hours (7 times repeated )
This stift represents the unique occasion of showing two types of wear together after a 7 hours testrun.

First record: Ring ( the adhesive counterpart, no measurement. For example the 1.2379 steel record at the first bar ) Second record: Pin ( measurement of volume-decrease. The bronze record at he the first bar )
Attention: at some "couples" the materials of pin and ring are also been put in reversed order. By these means, insight has been created in the "sacrificing" behaviour of materials in an adhesive wear test. At Lunac 1 and 2+, 1.2379 ( normal tool steel) and ASP 60, the hardened versions were choosen.

The brown particles at the left side represent oxidative wear and the metallic particles at the right side, pure adhesive wear. The ring transported the wear particles from the contact zone to the upper part of the stift.

Volume-decrease pin under 23,1 N ( first rowj ) and 36,8 N ( second row ). At 36,8 N a significant amount of heat is produced in most cases. 116,4 8 volume-decrease in l/hour 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 .2379 Polyamide 1 .2379 Nod.g.ijzer 1. 2379 Ni 99,9% RVS 304 RVS 304 1. 2379 AlSi 12 1 .2379 BronsRg7 1 .2379 PTFE 1 .2379 St 37 1 .2379 Stellite 6 1. 2379 Lunac 1 1,25 1,26 1,02 0,73 0,43 1 .2379 1. 2379 108,4 24,1 7,13 7,06 3,4 2,71 2,3 1,64 1,73 1 1,29 0,13 0,37 H.chroom Nod.g.ijzer 0,34 1. 2379 H.chroom 0,34 1. 2379 RVS 304 0,36 0,29 Lunac 2+ RVS 304 0,23 0,25 Lunac 2+ St 37 0,25 1 .2379 PEEK 1 .2379 Turcon T10 0,24 0,23 H.chroom 1 .2379 0,63 0,24 0,13 1. 2379 ASP60 0,14 0,13 Lunac 2+ 1 .2379 0,12 0,07 Lunac 2+ H.chroom 0,09 0,07 1. 2379 Al2O3/TiC 0,154 0,06 1 .2379 Lunac 2+ 0,066 0,06 Lunac 2+ Al2O3/TiC 0,05 H.chroom Al2O3/TiC 0,34 0,032 Lunac 2+ Lunac 1 0,099 0,023 Lunac 2+ Lunac 2+ 0,019 RVS 304 Lunac 2+ 2,38 4,6 46,3 6,52 6,6

0,19 H.chroom H.chroom

material couples Attention: the volume-decrease has only been determined for the second material !

Hardchromium, aluminium, stainless steel, nodular cast-iron and most of the hardened types of steel, will experience extra wear, under most (high loaded) circumstances by loosing their protective oxide layer and the, with that, coupled de novo oxide creation. The relatively chemical inert Lunac 2+ and the pure ceramic Al2O3/TiC do not possess this extra wear phenomenon. Ceramic and trans-ceramic materials like Lunac 2+ do stand a similar material as a counterpart exellently in contrast to most metals. Hardchromium suffers more wear in a "couple" with 1.2379 at 23,1 N, despite the limited hardness of the latter. This feature normally refers to the embedment of wear particles in the softer material. At higher loads this system changes dramatically. The chromium wear reduces and the 1.2379 wear increases a tenfold, producing a lot of ironoxides (tribo-oxidation) ! Hard plastics (like PEEK) show frequently a large difference in abrasive and adhesive wear. The applied different loads indicate a stable of less stable system under varying conditions. Consequently, a material should be assessed in this perspective of varying loads as well.

The most important ways to prevent adhesive wear without lubrication are: 1- Raising the hardness and so preventing 'microplastic' distortion of the surface 2- Applying covalent bonded materials (ceramics and transition metals) 3- Applying ceramic/ceramic, metal/plastic or metal/ceramic couples 4- Excluding kubic planar (Nickel or Austenitic steel) or homogeneous arranged metals The most important ways to prevent tribo-oxidation without lubrication are: 1- Applying metals with a higher 'own' nobility or applying a protective medium 2- Applying plastics or (trans)ceramic couples at moving or vibrating parts

Copyright: Wierdense Metaal Veredeling B.V.