Hello All,
I had a question regarding surface wear and I was wondering if anyone could suggest me some books/people/reference material for the same. The question is how does one characterize surface wear. In other words, if a component undergoes wear over a period of time of its operation, then has wear got any units by which it can be measured? How do I say that a certain component has got a certain amount of wear? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

If you can give me the material/coating I might be able to lead you astray ;)

Hello, more information regarding your application and the materials involved would help. For books/references my first thought is looking on the American Society for Metals web site ( do a google search for asm international, or american society for metals) and then search for /on tribology. Despite the name, ASM covers more than netals, including polymers, carbon fibers, etc.

Wear is often characterized by type, which can include abrasion, adhesion, corrosion, and erosion. Depending on application, you could conceivably quantify it with a measurement to estimate useful life left for a part. I would not expect the relationship to be linear, except possibly very early in the life of a part where you might be able to approximate it with a linear relationship. Rather, I would expect wear to accelerate with part time/life.