On the identification of wear modes and transitions using airborne wear particles

A novel test method was used to identify how contact conditions influence the wear modes and transitions for sliding steel-on-steel contacts. The test equipment was a pin-on-disc tribometer equipped with instruments for counting airborne particles. The results show that the dominant wear mode significantly influences the number of airborne particles generated from the contact. During mild wear few or no measurable airborne particles were generated. The transitional running-in process could also be identified by airborne particle measurement analysis.