Wear model for describing the time dependence of the material degradation mechanisms of the AISI 316L in a NaCl solution

The tribo-electrochemical behavior of AISI 316L has been investigated under tribocorrosion conditions in a 3% NaCl solution and the material damage evolution with time has been analyzed. A numerical contact model based on a Boundary Element Method (BEM) has been developed in order to determine the contact pressure distribution and to quantify the worn material as a function of time. The time dependence of the tribological behavior of the material has been described. At the initial state, the high contact pressures generate a material flow causing an increase in the worn area. After around 300 cycles, the Archard wear model linearly describes the wear evolution with time. The proposed model describes the evolution with time of the wear profiles of the tested material and takes into account the plastic behavior of the material during the first cycles. •Tribocorrosion is a dynamic system that evolves with time.•The wear evolution with time can be described using a numerical contact model based on a Boundary Element Method (BEM).•After the 300 initial cycles, the classical Archard wear model describes the wear evolution with time.•The proposed model is able to predict the wear profiles of the worn material.•The plastic behavior of the material at the beginning of the tribocorrosion tests is taken into account in the model.