Wear prediction of ceramics

Advanced ceramics are increasingly being used for wear applications. Wear prediction of ceramics has become all important subject in these arenas. Ceramic wear is a complex function of micro structure, grain size and shape, grain boundary toughness, and the operating conditions. Wear prediction, therefore, needs to address not only the amount of wear for a given range of operating conditions, it also needs to address the location of wear transitions, and the onset of different dominant wear mechanisms. This paper reviews the various wear models developed by the authors over the years to predict wear, wear transitions, and wear under different mechanisms for ceramics. Finally, we investigate the feasibility of modeling across a range of materials and operating condition using a concept of contact severity and material property nonmalization process. This results in a model capable of predicting wear of ceramics to 1 order of magnitude using only the material property and operating parameters. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.