Characterization and prediction of abrasive wear of powder composite materials

Composite materials produced by powder metallurgy provide a solution in many engineering applications where materials with high abrasion and erosion resistance are required. The actual wear behaviour of the material is associated with many external factors (particle size, velocity, angularity, etc.) and intrinsic material properties (hardness, toughness, Young modulus, etc.). Hardness and toughness properties of such tribomaterials are highly dependent from the content of reinforcing phase, its size and from the mechanical properties of the constituent phases. In this study an attempt is made to model the erosion wear behaviour of composite materials, to calculate the wear rate and to correlate erosion rates with experimental results and material parameters. Powder composites cermets and metal–matrix composite materials reinforced with different content of hard phase were used as examples in this research. Wear mechanisms of materials were investigated. Following from the main mechanisms of erosion wear the models of plastic deformation and brittle fracture are developed for prediction of erosion of powder composite materials. It was demonstrated, that the erosion rate of hardmetal-type materials can be predicted using the results obtained by microindentation methods. The use of hardness distribution parameters is justified with materials with low binder content.