Wear behaviour and mechanism of different metals sliding against stainless steel counterface

Understanding the wear mechanism significantly contributes to the knowledge of tribology of common metals and assists in predicting, overcoming and preventing the failure of designed components. In the current study, wear and frictional performances of brass, aluminium and mild steel metals are investigated at different operating parameters, i.e. sliding durations (0–10 km) and applied loads (0–50 N) against stainless steel counterface under dry contact conditions. The experiments were performed using block on ring machine. To categorise the wear mechanism and the damage features on the worn surfaces and the collected debris, scanning electron microscopy was used. Thermal imager was used to understand the heat distribution in the contacted bodies and the interface regions. The results revealed that the operating parameters influence the wear and frictional behaviour of all the metals. Brass metal exhibited better wear and frictional behaviour compared to others. Three different wear mechanisms were observed, i.e. two-body abrasion (brass), three-body abrasion (aluminium) and adhesive (mild steel).