Numerical simulation of wear-mechanism maps

Wear-mechanism maps for different materials, actually steel on steel, are being modeled with FEM. A microthermomechanical approach has been used in order to model accurately the macroscopic phenomena of wear. A plastic law for the normal micromechanical contact of asperities has been implemented in FEAP and a slight modification, based on experimental results, is proposed. For the three mechanisms modeled, good correlation between the numerical results of wear and those found in literature has been obtained for a pin-on-disk configuration. The flash temperatures reached in the contact interface have been also studied and fair good agreement with literature is achieved. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.