FAILURE MODELS FOR MECHANICAL WEAR MODES AND MECHANISMS

This tutorial presents design situations when mechanical wear can compromise system performance, and discusses a time-dependent wearout failure mechanism. Mechanical wear arises from the repeated contact of surfaces. The focus is on various physical phenomena responsible for removal of material. The paper also presents experimental investigative methods, measurement techniques, and mathematical descriptions, that make diagnostic & predictive engineering procedures feasible. These facilitate the selection & optimization of contacting surfaces.