Combined effect of abrasive particle size distribution and ball material on the wear coefficient in micro-scale abrasive wear tests

Micro-abrasive wear tests were carried out to analyze the combined effect of abrasive particle size distribution and ball material on the wear coefficient. Different particle size distributions were obtained by mixing different fractions of two silicon carbide (SiC) abrasive powders, having average particle sizes of 6.0 mu m and 14.4 mu m. Tests were conducted using two different normal loads, 0.2 and 0.4 N, AISI 1020 steel samples and balls made of AISI 52100 martensitic steel, AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel, polyurethane rubber and zirconia-alumina. Worn surfaces were analyzed with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and by optical profilometry. Results have indicated that a change in ball material, with consequential modification in the ratio between the hardness of the body and the counter-body, enabled different behaviors of the wear coefficient with the variation of the granulometric distribution. Such differences are due to the ability of the particles to be embedded and dragged into contact. The wear coefficients were analyzed in each case, resulting in a map to describe the combined influence of granulometric distributions of abrasive particles and ball material on the wear coefficient.