Resistance to Wear

Wear is liable to occur when two surfaces, in contact with each other and usually under load, move relative to each other. When comparing the wear resistance of different materials, the harder materials are often found to be the most wear resistant. There is considerable service experience to show that an aluminium bronze with a hard surface has excellent galling resistance. Gas porosity, inclusions or shrinkage defects are all liable to have a very detrimental effect on wear resistance. Filtering systems normally only remove the coarser particles, and the resistance of the material to abrasion therefore assumes considerable importance for most bearing applications. The degree of galling resistance which a material possess, is related to the shear strength and hardness. Adhesive wear is caused by the strong adhesive force that develops between mating materials. Abrasive wear is the result of one very hard material cutting or ploughing grooves into a softer material.