ADHESIVE AND ABRASIVE WEAR STUDIES USING ACOUSTIC-EMISSION TECHNIQUES

This paper is concerned with the measurement and subsequent analysis of acoustic emission signals from lubricated sliding contacts. The results show that the time-dependent nature of the acoustic signal is able to detect the presence of wear-reducing additives and the predominant wear process occurring. Further, third-body abrasive wear tests show that both wear and acoustic emission signals increase with alumina particle concentration added to the lubricant. A direct empirical relationship between integrated r.m.s. signal and wear volume removed from the test ball in a ball-on-cylinder test apparatus has been obtained.