Criterion for Critical Junctions in Elastic-Plastic Adhesive Wear

We investigate elastic-plastic adhesive wear via a continuum variational phase-field approach. The model seamlessly captures the transition from perfectly brittle, over quasibrittle to elastic-plastic wear regimes, as the ductility of the contacting material increases. Simulation results highlight the existence of a critical condition that morphological features and material ductility need to satisfy for the adhesive junction to detach a wear debris. We propose a new criterion to discriminate between noncritical and critical asperity contacts, where the former produce negligible wear while the latter lead to significant debris formation.

Automated summary

Through numerical simulations, this study reveals the critical condition for adhesive wear, where morphological features and material ductility must meet certain criteria for wear debris to detach.