Modelling the three-body abrasive wear of UHMWPE particle reinforced composites

In this paper, some of the complexities in developing predictive models for polymer composite materials are discussed with particular reference to models based on surface deformation energy. Although there are models available for abrasive wear of metals, polymers and composite materials, models are suitable for a particular wear situation. Most of the cases, the wear models are based on traditional test methods, such as two-body abrasive wear test or tests in a controlled environment. Moreover models for polymer composite materials are very limited. This is due to the fact that the vast range of polymers and polymer composite materials present different wear behaviour in similar wear situations. This makes the modelling wear of polymer composite materials complicated.