Modification of Archard’s equation by taking account of elastic/pseudoelastic properties of materials

The hardness of a material is historically considered the most important parameter in predicting wear of materials. The wear resistance of a material is usually estimated using Archard’s equation, which states that the harder a material, the lower is its wear rate. However, recent studies on wear of pseudoelastic TiNi alloy showed that the wear loss of this alloy did not follow Archard’s equation. This discrepancy indicates the deficiency of Archard’s equation when applied to the materials that are either pseudoelastic or highly elastic. Archard’s equation was previously modified by taking account of the elastic/pseudoelastic properties. In this work, research was conducted to evaluate the generality of the modified wear equation. Wear losses of several types of engineering materials were predicted as a function of their hardness and elasticity or pseudoelasticity using the modified wear equation. The wear prediction using both the modified equation and Archard’s equation was compared to experimental measurements. It was demonstrated that the modified wear equation provided improved prediction, especially when materials were highly elastic or pseudoelastic.