Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Tribology International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint

Inuence of the normal force, abrasive slurry concentration and

abrasive wear modes on the coefcient of friction in ball-cratering
wear tests
Ronaldo Cmara Cozza a,b,n
a
Centro Universitrio da FEI Fundao Educacional Inaciana Padre Sabia de Medeiros, Departamento de Engenharia Mecnica, Av. Humberto de
Alencar Castelo Branco, 3972, So Bernardo do Campo, SP 09850-901, Brazil
b
CEETEPS Centro Estadual de Educao Tecnolgica Paula Souza FATEC-Mau, Av. Antnia Rosa Fioravante, 804, Mau, SP 09390-120, Brazil

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 24 September 2012
Received in revised form
16 January 2013
Accepted 13 September 2013
Available online 8 October 2013

The purpose of this work is to study the inuence of the normal force (N), abrasive slurry concentration
(C) and abrasive wear modes on the coefcient of friction in ball-cratering wear tests. Experiments were
conducted with balls of AISI 52100 steel, an AISI H10 tool-steel specimen and abrasive slurries prepared
with black silicon carbide (SiC) particles distilled water. The tangential (T) and normal loads were
monitored throughout the tests and the results have shown that: (i) the coefcient of friction behavior
was independent of the normal force and (ii) both the concentrations of abrasive slurries and the
subsequent action of the abrasive wear modes, generally, did not affect the behavior or magnitude of the
coefcient of friction.
& 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Ball-cratering
Abrasive wear
Coefcient of friction

1. Introduction
Recently, the micro-scale abrasive wear test has gained large
acceptance at universities and research centers and is widely used
in studies focusing on the abrasive wear of materials. Fig. 1a [1]
presents a schematic diagram of the operating principles of the
abrasive wear test, where a rotating ball is forced against the
specimen being tested in the presence of an abrasive slurry. There
are two main equipment congurations that can be used to
conduct this type of test: the free-ball and xed-ball congurations. Fig. 1b [2] and 1c [3,4] show examples of these equipment congurations.
The aim of the micro-abrasive wear test is to generate wear
craters on the specimen being tested. Fig. 2 presents representative images of such craters, together with an indication of the
crater diameter (b) [5] (Fig. 2a), the crater depth (h) (schematic
illustration) (Fig. 2b) and the wear volume (V) [2] (Fig. 2c).
The diameter of the wear crater is commonly measured by
optical microscopy, but other methods are available. For example,
computer aided design (CAD) software [3] has been used for this
purpose. The crater depth and the wear volume may be

n
Correspondence address: Centro Universitrio da FEI Fundao Educacional
Inaciana Padre Sabia de Medeiros, Departamento de Engenharia Mecnica, Av.
Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco, 3972, So Bernardo do Campo, SP 09850-901,
Brazil. Tel.: 55 11 4353 2900; fax: 55 11 4109 5994.
E-mail addresses: rcamara@fei.edu.br, ronaldo.cozza@fatec.sp.gov.br

0301-679X/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2013.09.010

determined as a function of b, using Eqs. (1) and (2) [6],

respectively, where R is the radius of the ball.
2

b
8R

b4
64R

for b{R

for b{R

1
2

Two abrasive wear modes are usually observed on the surface

of the worn crater: grooving abrasion results when the abrasive
particles slide on the specimen (Fig. 3a [7]), while rolling
abrasion is observed when the abrasive particles roll on the
surface of the specimen (Fig. 3b [7]). Depending on test
conditions, rolling abrasion and grooving abrasion can occur
simultaneously in a given crater [8]. Fig. 3c [1], 3d [8] and 3e [3]
presents images of grooving abrasion, rolling abrasion and the
simultaneous action of rolling and grooving abrasion, respectively.
In a previous work [3], At was dened as the total projected area of
the crater and Ag as the projected area with grooving abrasion. The
projected area with rolling abrasion (Ar) may be dened as
Ar At  Ag [9].
The micro-abrasive wear test has been applied toward studying
the abrasive wear of metallic [2,3,8] and non-metallic [3,4,10]
materials where, depending on the equipment conguration, it is
possible to apply normal loads (N) from 0.01 N [11] to 10 N [12]
and ball rotational speeds (n) up to 80 rpm [13].
The wear behavior of different materials can be analyzed based
on the dimensions of the wear crater and/or on the wear mode.

R.C. Cozza / Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

t
T
TAS

Nomenclature
Ag
Ar
At
b
C
CAD
D
DSRW
DW
h
k
n
N
R
S

projected area with grooving abrasion [mm2]

projected area with rolling abrasion [mm2]
total projected area of the wear crater [mm2]
diameter of the wear crater [mm]
concentration of the abrasive slurry
Computer Aided Design
diameter of the ball [mm]
Dry Sand Rubber Wheel
distilled water
depth of the wear crater [mm]
wear coefcient [mm3/(N m)]
ball rotational speed [rpm]
normal force [N]
radius of the ball [mm]
sliding distance [m]

53

test time [s]

tangential force (friction force) [N]
tangential force (friction force) between abrasive particles and specimen [N]
tangential force (friction force) between ball and
abrasive particles [N]
tangential sliding velocity [m/s]
wear volume (volume of the wear crater) [mm3]

TBA
v
V

Greek letters

AS

coefcient of friction
coefcient of friction between abrasive particles and
specimen
coefcient of friction between ball and abrasive
particles

BA

Abrasive slurry

Specimen

Ball
n
Normal force

Tangential force

Shaft

Ball

Specimen
Shaft

Ball

Specimen

Fig. 1. Micro-abrasive wear testing using the rotating ball method: (a) schematic diagram of the operating principle [1], (b) free-ball conguration [2] and (c) xed-ball
conguration [3,4].

Ball

Specimen
Abrasive particles
(in green)

Fig. 2. Representative images of wear craters: (a) diameter b [5], (b) crater depth h (schematic illustration) and (c) wear volume V [2].

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R.C. Cozza / Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

Abrasive particles

100 m

Ar
Ag

At

Fig. 3. Principle of (a) grooving abrasion [7] and (b) rolling abrasion [7]. Abrasive wear modes: (c) grooving abrasion [1], (d) rolling abrasion [8] and (e) the simultaneous
action of rolling abrasion and grooving abrasion [3].

Since the early works of Hutchings [6,8], several other important

contributions have been documented in terms of this type of test,
such as the wear mode transition [9,14], the wear coefcient (k)
[13,15], micro-abrasive wear of coated systems [16,17], microcontact modeling of abrasive wear [18,19], ridge formation [20,21]
and angularity of abrasive particles [22,23].
Many works on friction coefcient () during abrasive wear
and other types of tests are available in the literature [2431], but
only a few were dedicated to the friction coefcient in microabrasive wear tests with a rotating ball [3234].
The purpose of this work is to study the inuence of the normal
force, abrasive slurry concentration and abrasive wear modes on
the friction coefcient with the intent of contributing toward the
understanding of the friction coefcient behavior in micro-scale
abrasion wear tests by the rotative ball method.

2. Experimental details
2.1. Micro-abrasive wear test equipment
The rotative ball method with xed-ball conguration (Fig. 4)
was used in the micro-scale abrasive wear tests. This equipment
was designed and assembled with some mechanical and electrical
differences from the xed-ball equipment conguration found in
the literature [8,1012,35].

Differing from the commercially available systems where the

ball is xed by two shafts [11] (Fig. 5a), the ball is stuck on the
shaft with adhesive material in the test apparatus used in this
work (Fig. 5b). The surface of the tip is concave, with a tip radius
equal to that of the sphere (R 12.7 mm). This surface is coated
with adhesive CIANO CM1, and the sphere is pressed against this
adhesive, xing the sphere in position.
To cancel the eccentricity (misalignment) of the sphere, the
shaft was designed to allow its displacement in a single plane in
two perpendicular directions, as schematized in Fig. 5c.
The rotation of the sphere is controlled by a coupled servomotor/servo-controller, bought from the Rexroth Bosch Group;
this system allows the selection of ball rotational speeds from
10  5 rpm up to 9  103 rpm, in both the clockwise and counterclockwise directions. A load cell controls the normal force (Fig. 4b),
which is applied on the specimen with the help of a second
coupled servo-motor/servo-controller (also provided by the
Rexroth Bosch Group) that rotates a screw for the application of
the normal force. A second load cell located below the specimen
(Fig. 4b) measures the tangential force (T) generated during
the tests.
2.2. Materials
The experiments were conducted with one ball made of AISI
52100 steel (nominal chemical composition of 1.04 wt% C, 0.35 wt%

R.C. Cozza / Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

55

Specimen

Displacement of
the specimen.

Sphere

Load cell for normal

force controll.

Load cell for tangential

force measurement.

Fig. 4. (a) General view of the micro-abrasive wear test equipment with the xed-ball conguration used in the experiments for this work and (b) load cells for
measurements of the normal and tangential forces.

Horizontal displacement
of the ball.

Vertical displacement
of the ball.

Fig. 5. (a) Ball xing in the Plint TE 66 test equipment courtesy photo: Prof. Amilcar Lopes Ramalho University of Coimbra POR, (b) ball xing used in this work and
(c) displacement in the two perpendicular directions of the sphere.

Mn, 0.25 wt% Si, 1.45 wt% Cr, bal. Fe), with a diameter (D) of
25.4 mm (1). The tested specimen was composed of quenched
and tempered AISI H10 tool steel (nominal chemical compositionof
0.42 wt% C, 0.81 wt% Si, 0.42 wt% Zr, 0.26 wt% S, 0.19 wt% V, 0.65 wt
% Cr, 1.68 wt% Mn, 0.46 wt% Ni, bal. Fe), with dimensions of 5 mm
(thickness)  20 mm (width)  50 mm (length).
Fig. 6a [3] and 6b present the microstructures of the ball and
specimen, respectively. The ball exhibited carbides homogeneously distributed in the matrix, while the test specimen displayed a martensitic microstructure with retained austenite.
The abrasive used was black silicon carbide (SiC) with an average
particle size of 3 m. Fig. 7 [1] presents a micrograph of the abrasive
particles (Fig. 7a) and the particle size distribution (Fig. 7b).
Table 1 presents the hardness of the materials used in this work
(specimen, ball [3,4] and abrasive particles [3,4]).
2.3. Micro-abrasive wear tests
Table 2 shows the test conditions selected for the experiments
conducted in this work.
Two values of normal force were dened for the wear experiments: N1 0.5 N and N2 1.25 N; three values of the abrasive

slurry concentration were dened: C1 5% SiC 95% distilled

water, C2 25% SiC 75% distilled water and C3 37.5% SiC
62.5% distilled water (volumetric values). After the N1, N2, C1, C2
and C3, values were established, six different combinations of the
normal force and the abrasive slurry concentration were
compiled into six different test conditions: N1 C1, N1 C2,
N1 C3, N2 C1, N2 C2 and N2 C3.
The ball rotational speed was n 37.6 rpm, which was previously selected by Trezona et al. [8] and Adachi and Hutchings
[11,14]. For n 37.6 rpm and D 25.4 mm (R12.7 mm), the tangential sliding velocity at the external diameter of the ball is equal
to v 0.05 m/s, which potentially reduces or eliminates the occurrence of hydrodynamic effects during the tests [11].
The tests were run for three different sliding distances (S),
S1 10 m, S2 32 m and S3 100 m. These values were based on
the Renard's series R20/4 [36] and the correspondent test times
are t1 200 s (3 min 20 s), t2 640 s (10 min 40 s) and t3 2000 s
(33 min 20 s), as presented in Table 2.
Three repetitions were conducted for each S value, and the test
sequence was the same for the six different combinations of the
normal force (N) and the abrasive slurry concentration (C) (N C).
This sequence was randomly dened as follows: 32, 10, 32, 10, 10,

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R.C. Cozza / Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

32, 100, 100 and 100 m, which provides fty-four experiments

(nine tests for each combination of N C).
All tests were conducted without interruption, and the abrasive
slurry was continuously agitated and fed between the ball and
specimen with the help of a peristaltic pump.
At the end, after all tests, the abrasive slurries were analyzed by
laser interferometry to verify the possible occurrence of abrasive
particles fragmentation.

2.4. Data acquisition and result analysis

Both the normal force (N) and the tangential force (T) were
monitored and registered constantly with a data acquisition
system, under a frequency of 100 Hz.
Then, the friction coefcient was determined using Eq. (3):

T
N

3. Results and discussion

10 m

3.1. Nulling the eccentricity of the ball

During the design and construction of the micro-abrasive wear
test mentioned in Section 2 Experimental details, there was a
great degree of difculty involved in removing the eccentricity of
the ball. Initially, the purpose was to cancel the eccentricity of the
shaft but was unable to do so because there were some misalignment issues with the sphere positioning.
In total, four designs and ve different machining operation
tests were conducted. It was eventually understood that the
problem was not in the machine design or the machining operations, but rather on the sphere and not the shaft.
Finally, the eccentricity of the sphere in the micro-abrasive
wear test equipment by the xed rotating ball method was
removed with an unconventional design, and the experiments
could be performed accurately and reliably.
In studies of micro-abrasive wear test by the rotating ball
method, the annulment of sphere misalignment is critical since an
eccentricity between 20 and 24 m, as reported by Gee and Wicks
[37], can inuence the results, particularly the measurement of
the coefcient of friction. The justication for this assertion is
supported by the illustration shown in Fig. 8. In many research
efforts related to testing of micro-abrasive wear by the rotating
ball method, the average size of the abrasive particles taken by
the respective scientists is approximately 4 m [24,8,11,14],
a misalignment between 20 and 24 m is 56 times larger than
the abrasive particles themselves. Consequently, the ball will
Table 1
Hardness of the materials.

Fig. 6. Microstructure of: (a) AISI 52100 steel ball [3] and (b) AISI H10 tool steel
specimen. Both ball and specimen were chemically etched with 3% Nital.

Specimen
Ball
Abrasive particles

Material

Hardness GPa (HV)

H10 tool steel

AISI 52100 steel
SiC

7.1
8.4
18.519

(720)
(856) [3,4]
(18861937) [3,4]

100

Histogram [.10]

Cumulative values [%]

80
60
40
20
0
0.04 0.1

10

Fig. 7. SiC abrasive [1]: (a) scanning electron micrograph and (b) particle size distribution.

100

500

R.C. Cozza / Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

57

Table 2
Test conditions selected for the wear experiments.
Test condition )

Normal force N1 [N]

Normal force N2 [N]

0.5
1.25

0.5
1.25

0.5
1.25

Abrasive slurry concentration C1 (in volume)

5% SiC
95% distilled water

5% SiC
95% distilled water

5% SiC
95% distilled water

Abrasive slurry concentration C2 (in volume)

25% SiC
75% distilled water

25% SiC
75% distilled water

25% SiC
75% distilled water

Abrasive slurry concentration C3 (in volume)

37.5% SiC
62.5% distilled water

37.5% SiC
62.5% distilled water

37.5% SiC
62.5% distilled water

Sliding distance S [m]

Ball rotational speed n [rpm]
Tangential sliding velocity v [m/s]

10
37.6
0.05

32
37.6
0.05

100
37.6
0.05

Test time t

200 s
(3 min 20 s)

640 s
(10 min 40 s)

2000 s
(33 min 20 s)

Number of repetitions

Sphere trajectory
Abrasive particles

Sphere

Specimen

The sphere is always in contact with

the specimen.

In most of the time, the sphere will be

out of touch with the specimen.

Fig. 8. (a) Sphere without eccentricity and (b) sphere with eccentricity.

Coefficient of friction

3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0

0.25

0.5

0.75

1.25

10

1.5

15

1.75

2.25

20

2.5

2.75

25

3.25

10

30

Test time t [min]

Fig. 9. Horizontal axis: test time; vertical axis: coefcient of friction. Test conditions: N1 0.5 N and C1 5% SiC 95% DW. Sliding distances: (a) S1 10 m, (b) S2 32 m and
(c) S3 100 m.

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R.C. Cozza / Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

0.25

0.5

0.75

1.25

1.5

1.75

2.25

2.5

2.75

3.25

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4

Coefficient of friction

0.2
0
2

10

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

Test time t [min]

Fig. 10. Horizontal axis: test time; vertical axis: coefcient of friction. Test conditions: N2 1.25 N and C1 5% SiC 95% DW. Sliding distances: (a) S1 10 m, (b) S2 32 m and
(c) S3 100 m.

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

0.25

0.5

0.75

1.25

1.5

1.75

2.25

2.5

2.75

3.25

1.0
0.8
0.6

Coefficient of friction

0.4
0.2
0
2

10

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

10

15

20

25

30

Test time t [min]

Fig. 11. Horizontal axis: test time; vertical axis: coefcient of friction. Test conditions: N1 0.5 N and C2 25% SiC 75% DW. Sliding distances: (a) S1 10 m, (b) S2 32 m and
(c) S3 100 m.

not always be in contact with the tribological system (abrasive

particles and specimen) with each rotation of the ball. The
problem worsens if the abrasive particles have an average size of
12 m, as seen in literature [2].
3.2. General analysis of the behavior of the coefcient of friction
Initially, by laser interferometry analysis, it was related that
there was not the fragmentation of the abrasive particles.
Figs. 914 present the behavior of the coefcient of friction as a
function of the test time (or, sliding distance S), for the different test
conditions established. In these gures, DW signies distilled water.
In Fig. 9, with test conditions N1 0.5 N C1 5% SiC 95%
DW, it is noted that between 2 and 3 min (Fig. 9a and 9c) and
from 8 min (Fig. 9b), there was a turbulence in the contact
specimen abrasive particles ball. In Fig. 9c, which shows

the graph of f(t) for t3 33 min 20 s (S3 100 m), also

exhibits periodic peaks of that are repeated approximately every
2 min 30 s.
Fig. 10 displays the results obtained with N2 1.25 N C2 5%
SiC 95% DW in which there are also periodic peaks of , but
with slightly smaller intervals of approximately 2 min (Fig. 10c).
Following this decline, increasing the concentration of the abrasive
slurry to 25% SiC, for both the normal forces of approximately 0.5 N
and 1.25 N, the frequency of such turbulence in the coefcient of
friction decreases to intervals of less than 1 min (Figs. 11 and 12). There
were practically no peaks in for the condition N1 0.5 NC2 25%
SiC 75% DW S3 100 m (Fig. 11c).
Moreover, contrary to this downward trend, the occurrence of
periodic peaks of began to occur approximately every 2 min 30 s
when the concentration of the abrasive slurry was altered to 37.5%
SiC, as seen in Figs. 13 and 14.

R.C. Cozza / Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

59

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

0.25

0.5

0.75

1.25

1.5

1.75

2.25

2.5

2.75

3.25

1.0
0.8
0.6

Coefficient of friction

0.4
0.2
0
2

14

16

10

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

12

18

Test time t [min]

Fig. 12. Horizontal axis: test time; vertical axis: coefcient of friction. Test conditions: N2 1.25 N and C2 25% SiC 75% DW. Sliding distances: (a) S1 10 m, (b) S2 32 m
and (c) S3 100 m.

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

0.25

0.5

0.75

1.25

1.5

1.75

2.25

2.5

2.75

3.25

1.0
0.8
0.6

Coefficient of friction

0.4
0.2
0
2

10

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

Test time t [min]

Fig. 13. Horizontal axis: test time; vertical axis: coefcient of friction. Test conditions: N1 0.5 N and C3 37.5% SiC 62.5% DW. Sliding distances: (a) S1 10 m, (b) S2 32 m
and (c) S3 100 m.

Even with these peaks, the average value of the coefcient of

friction was between 0.18 and 0.20.
The periodic rises in the coefcient of friction can be explained by
analyzing the types of movement that the abrasive particles acquire
during the wear process, which will be discussed in the next section.
3.3. Inuence of the abrasive particle motion on the coefcient of
friction
3.3.1. Contact ball abrasive particles and abrasive particles
specimen
Many factors contribute toward the complexity in analyzing
the coefcient of friction by micro-abrasive wear tests using the

rotating ball method. These variables, besides the movement of

the abrasive particles, must be considered assuming that there is
no direct contact between the ball and the specimen [33] due to
the presence of the three main elements involved in the tribological system: (i) ball, (ii) abrasive particles and (iii) specimen, as
schematized in Fig. 15.
Close analysis of this system during the tests acts to separate
the coefcients of friction1: (i) the coefcient of friction between
the ball and the abrasive particles (BA) and (ii) the coefcient
of friction between the abrasive particles and the specimen

In this analysis, the uid of the abrasive slurry is not being considered.

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R.C. Cozza / Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

Fig. 14. Horizontal axis: test time; vertical axis: coefcient of friction. Test conditions: N2 1.25 N and C3 37.5% SiC 62.5% DW. Sliding distances: (a) S1 10 m, (b) S2 32 m
and (c) S3 100 m.

TBA
TAS

Normal Force

Fig. 15. Schematic depicting T, TBA and TAS.

(AS), while disregarding the uid of the abrasive slurry. Consequently, there are two tangential forces, (i) TBA and (ii) TAS (Fig. 15),
that have impact on BA and AS, respectively.
Following this procedural analysis, the tangential forces (T)
measured and the coefcients of friction () calculated in this
work are the sums (the result) of TBA and TAS (Eq. (4)) and BA
and AS (Eq. (5)), respectively.
T T BA T AS

BA AS

3.3.2. Dispersion of the coefcient of friction depending on the type

of motion of the abrasive particles
Depending on the type of movement that the abrasive particles
acquire during wear, the quantities TBA, TAS, BA and AS are
considerably inuenced. In abrasive wear tests with a single
abrasive particle, Fang et al. [38] reported that the dispersion of
the coefcient of friction as a function of test time was relatively
greater for the rolling when compared to the movement of

slide of the abrasive particle. In fact, Fang et al. [38] have

observed periodic peaks of .
For a single abrasive particle, it is possible to assume that the
quotient T/N in a specic contact (local charge) is signicantly
dependent on the type of movement of the abrasive particle,
rolling or sliding [18], as concluded by Fang et al. [38]. However,
due to a greater discrepancy in the coefcient of friction as a
function of test time for the rolling abrasion condition, Fang et al.
[38] considered the possibility of accepting the hypothesis that, due
to this behavior, the higher friction coefcient is recorded for the
rolling abrasive wear condition. This is not the consensus discussed within this work; the movement pattern is not exactly the
same for all the abrasive particles participating in the process of
wear, and uctuations in the overall value of the coefcient of
friction can be expected depending on the number of particles that
roll and slide. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the local
value of T/N equals to global value of T/N in circumstances
where the movement pattern is the same for the vast majority
of the abrasive particles that are supporting the load at a given
moment.
3.4. Inuence of the normal force on the coefcient of friction
3.4.1. Literature review
In 1999, Dube and Hutchings [39] showed that the coefcient
of friction is proportional to normal force. As test specimens, the
authors used carbon-steel AISI 1020 with silica abrasive particles
of sizes ranging between 125 and 150 m.
Prior to Nahvi et al. [40], Ramos [41] studied the inuence of
the normal force on the behavior of the coefcient of friction in
dry sand rubber wheel wear tests; in his M.Sc. Dissertation, he
used specimens of carbon-steel AISI 1004 and AISI D2 tool steel,
sand ANB 50 and ANB 100 (average particle size of 150 m and
300 m, respectively, 99.80% SiO2) and normal forces of 15 N,
30 N, 50 N and 100 N. Ramos [41] noted that, for all material
combinations of specimen and abrasive materials, the coefcient
of friction increased with increase in the normal force.
Ramos [41] attributes this behavior to a high degree of strainhardening of the tested material with the maximization of the
normal force, an adverse outcome to the one published by Stevenson

R.C. Cozza / Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

61

Fig. 16. (a) Crater obtained in this work and (b) occurrence of micro-rolling abrasion. N2 1.25 N, S2 32 m and C2 25% SiC 75% distilled water.

and Hutchings [42] where the coefcient of friction remained

independent of the normal force (application range: 24.5122.6 N).

3.4.2. Results of this work

Dube and Hutchings [39], Nahvi et al. [40] and Ramos [41]
show that the coefcient of friction is proportional to the normal
force, as described in the literature review above. However, the
results of this study showed that the average coefcient of friction
remained between 0.18 and 0.20, independent of the normal force,
as published by Stevenson and Hutchings [42].
The explanation for this inalterability will be developed based
on different magnitudes of the normal forces applied to the wear
tests, which were discussed above, and the values adopted in this
research.
In the literature review, which focused mainly on testing
conguration of dry sand rubber wheel (DSRW), the normal forces
values ranged between 15 N and 100 N, considerably higher than
the 0.5 N and 1.25 N values established for this study.
For abrasive wear, higher normal forces result in deep grooves
caused by the abrasive particles which hinder the removal of
material and therefore increases the tangential force. Taking the
example from the research conducted by Dube and Hutchings [39]
and Ramos [41], it is possible to note that variations in normal
force between 15 N and 100 N caused relatively minor increase in
the coefcient of friction, nearly a multiple of two, while the
normal force increased more than six times its original value.
Furthermore, another important aspect worth noting is the strainhardening of the specimen, emphasized by Ramos [41]. Applications of
normal forces in the range of 15100 N cause greater degrees of strainhardening than normal forces below 0.5 N and 1.25 N, as used in this
work. Therefore, in micro-abrasive wear tests by the rotating ball
method, it is possible and consistent to conclude that the effect of
specimen strain-hardening on the coefcient of friction is negligible.
In particular, in studies of micro-abrasive wear tests by rotating
ball where both the values of normal forces and abrasive particles
sizes are relatively much smaller, there are lower penetrations and
therefore constant (or approximate) values of coefcient of
friction.

3.5. Inuence of the abrasive slurry concentration and abrasive wear

modes on the coefcient of friction
The predominance of grooving abrasion was observed for both
normal forces with the abrasive slurries concentration of 5% SiC
(considered relatively low) and 25% SiC (considered relatively
high). It is important to emphasize that high concentrations of
abrasive slurries favor the action of rolling abrasion, but this is not
a denitive rule; in reality, the abrasion mode depends on other
factors, as discussed in detail in the works of Adachi and Hutchings

[11,14]. Finally, rolling abrasion was observed when the slurry

concentration was 37.5% SiC.
Micro-rolling abrasion, which is the occurrence of abrasive
wear by rolling on the surface or between the grooves, was
observed. Fig. 16 shows a wear crater generated during the
experiments and an image which relates the occurrence of
micro-rolling abrasion.
The literature did not report on any work that focused on the
inuence of the abrasive slurry concentration on the coefcient of
friction. In the beginning of this research, it was hypothesized that
increasing the abrasive slurry concentration would decrease the
coefcient of friction because the quantity of abrasive particles
would increase and, consequently, the wear mode would transition from grooving to rolling, as demonstrated in the literature
by the classic work of Trezona et al. [8]. However, from the
obtained results, it is concluded that the concentration of the
abrasive slurry has no inuence on the coefcient of friction.
The conservation of the friction coefcient despite increasing
the abrasive slurry concentration can be attributed to the presence
of distilled water between abrasive SiC particles. Lower concentrations of abrasive slurry favor the action of abrasive wear by
grooving, but there is a greater volume of liquid (in this case,
distilled water) that tends to lubricate, and not wear, the tribological system. On the other hand, higher concentrations of abrasive
slurry favor the occurrence of abrasive wear by rolling as there is
less distilled water that can act as lubricant in the tribological
system, leading to a greater volume of abrasive particles coming
into contact with the specimen.

4. Conclusions
The results obtained in this work have indicated the following:
(1) It is necessary to take caution in comparing the behavior of the
coefcient of friction from different congurations of test
equipment for abrasive wear. Depending on the equipment
conguration and test conditions, the coefcient of friction can
present a constant or variable behavior.
(2) The cancellation of the eccentricity of the sphere provided
reliable and reproducible results because any inuence of its
misalignment on the coefcient of friction was nullied.
(3) In this research, the coefcient of friction was independent of
the normal force for the materials and test conditions established. These results are related to the actual magnitude of the
normal forces and average size of the abrasive particles, that
cause relatively small penetrations and a lower degree of
strain-hardening on the specimen.
(4) Both the concentrations of abrasive slurries and the subsequent actions of the abrasive wear modes did generally not
affect the behavior or magnitude of the coefcient of friction.

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R.C. Cozza / Tribology International 70 (2014) 5262

However, it is important to emphasize that the conditions of

the normal force and concentration of the abrasive slurry
caused periodic peaks on the coefcient of friction, which
were related to the types of movements of the abrasive
particles.

Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges Prof. Ana Helena de
Almeida Bressiani, from the Nuclear and Energetic Researches
Institute, for the help in the abrasive particle size distribution
analysis; as well as Paulo Zanini, Rafael Rozolen and Vitor Benkard
Lira, from Rexroth Bosch Group for helping with the start-up of the
servo-motors and servo-controllers.
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in
the online version at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2013.09.
010.
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