ABRASIVE WEAR IN INTERMEDIATE-MODE OF MULTIPHASE MATERIALS

This article introduces the concept and a model of wear in intermediat e (I) mode. Intermediate mode wear proceeds between two wear modes whi ch correspond to upper and lower limits for the wear resistance which can be expected for a multiphase material. These extreme modes have be en labelled equal wear (EW) and equal pressure (EP), respectively. The intermediate mode model is based on Archard's equation and a weighted average of the pressure distributions for the two extreme modes. The pressure distribution over the phases decides which wear mode will dom inate. The predictions of the intermediate mode model are compared wit h experimental results for three different types of multiphase materia ls. It is found that the experimental results can be described and int erpreted in terms of this model.