A random wear model for the interaction between a rough and a smooth surface

Contact surfaces in many applications change form due to plastic and elastic deformation and to wear. This study focused on the plastic deformation and wear of the asperities on a rough surface rubbing against an opposite smooth, hard and wear-resistant surface. A stochastic model for the prediction of plastic deformations and wear of a rough surface is proposed. The surface roughness and the interaction between the surfaces are also represented by stochastic models. A single asperity is studied as it comes into contact and interacts with the opposite surface. Since the wear process is simulated as an initial-value problem, the proposed general wear model is formulated as a first order differential equation system representing events during the rubbing process at all of the asperities considered on a surface.