A study of abrasive wear under three-body conditions

Measurements have been made of the abrasive wear rates of metals being slid together while their interface was provided with copious amounts of powdered abrasive (3-body abrasion). The quantitative relations between the wear rates and time of sliding, material hardness and abrasive grain size were determined, and found to be similar to those prevailing during 2-body abrasion,i.e., during the sliding of metals against abrasive-covered paper. The effects of moisture and of abrasive flow rate were investigated, and good reproducibility was found when these two variables were controlled. A simple quantitative expression for abrasive wear rate is developed, and the abrasive wear data of a number of earlier investigators is analysed in terms of this expression. Abrasive wear rates during 3-body abrasion are about 10 times less than during 2-body abrasion, probably because the average loose abrasive grain spends 90% of its time rolling and only 10% of its time abrading the sliding surfaces between which it is situated.