3D dynamic simulation of groove and ridge in two-body abrasive wear by finite element method

It is imperative to determine the factor differentiating the percentage of the wear debris volume from that of the total groove so as to realize the reliable prediction of the wear rate of materials. However, it is hard to determine this factor since it is difficult to express the groove and ridge morphologies. Thus a three-dimension finite element method (FEM) was used to analyze the simulation of the groove and ridge morphologies of a series mild carbon steel (AISI-1020, AISI-1045 and AISI-1080) samples subject to two-body abrasive wear. The simulation results were correlated and compared with the experimental ones based on single-tip scratch testing as well. Therefore, the stress and the strain of a half infinite plane indented by a sliding spheric tip were calculated based on an elastic-linear strengthened plastic deformation model, making use of a commercial software. The groove and ridge descriptions were fitted after the FEM simulation, while the scratched morphologies were analyzed on a laser coincident focus scanning electron microscope so as to evaluate the correlation between the theoretical results and the experimental results. It was found that the simulation results based on the FEM agreed well with the experimental ones. Thus the established theoretical model could be used to well predict the abrasive wear behavior of the mild steels.