Wear models

Wear is commonly defined as the removal of material from solid surfaces as a result of one contacting surface moving over another. The material is removed in the form of wear debris. The typical size of wear debris in visible wear conditions is from about half a micrometer to tens or hundreds of micrometers. In severe mining wear conditions, single wear particles can be of centimeter size. In steady-state low-wear-lubricated conditions in an engine, the size of wear particles in continuous wear may be of nanometer size