Friction characteristics and the wear process for metal pairs in sliding contacts-with applications to modelling wear of power plant components

摘要

The wear and friction characteristics of several material combinations subjected to a wide range of test conditions are examined. In the first series of tests, a fundamental investigation of wear particle formation has been conducted for hardened steel-on-martensitic grade stainless steel contact subjected to a uni-directional sliding motion with 2 mm stroke length. Results of detailed studies of the wear scar formation from the beginning few sliding strokes to after tens of thousands of repeated cycles are presented. They reveal that extensive geometry transformation occurs in the first few cycles of contact. In the second series of tests, the friction characteristics and wear processes of several material combinations used in nuclear power steam generators under similarly low-amplitude but with reciprocating sliding contacts are studied. The combined results from these two separate studies indicate that the friction characteristics can provide an insight into the mild and severe wear processes. The friction characteristic is an important parameter in predictive wear models that correlate the mass losses with the frictional work at the interface.