Transitions between two-body and three-body abrasive wear: influence of test conditions in the microscale abrasive wear test

The microscale abrasive wear test (also known as the ball-cratering wear test) is generally considered to be a three-body wear test. Nevertheless, different test conditions can produce either two-body (grooving) or three-body (rolling) wear mechanisms. The wear mechanisms and wear rates were investigated over a range of loads (0.1 to 5.0 N), slurry concentrations (0.000031 to 0.24 volume fraction abrasive) and abrasive materials (SiC, Al 2O 3 and diamond). It was found that for each abrasive, a transition from grooving to rolling wear could be identified with a critical ratio of load to slurry concentration. The wear rate varied with concentration, with a maximum at intermediate slurry concentrations. The classification of abrasive wear into two-body and three-body mechanisms is discussed with reference to the problems noted by Gates [J.D. Gates, Two-body and three-body abrasion: a critical discussion, Wear 215 (1998) 139–146].