THE CRATER GRINDER METHOD AS A MEANS FOR COATING WEAR EVALUATION - ANUPDATE

The crater grinder test has been developed in order to obtain the abra sive resistance of thin coatings. It is capable of determining the spe cific abrasive wear rate of the coating and the substrate individually , even for very thin coatings. This paper reports on further developme nt and evaluation of the test. The equation for calculation of the spe cific wear rate has been reformulated and the influence of several tes t parameters has been evaluated. As a consequence the test procedure h as been revised. The amended test procedure yields more accurate Value s of the specific wear rate as compared to the earlier version. Moreov er, a standard test procedure is suggested to ensure reliable and repr oducible results.