Experimental and numerical study of the ploughing part of abrasive wear

Understanding and quantification of ploughing resistance and associated deformation is of primary importance for materials undergoing abrasive wear. The aim of this study is to understand mechanical phenomena induced by a ploughing process. A comparison of numerical simulation with experimental results has been performed in order to validate our numerical model. The process to be studied is the ploughing of a soft flat surface with a rigid sphere. A numerical study with a finite element code has been performed in order to understand the role of different parameters on strain and stress fields. First of all, we have studied the process in terms of applied loads and strained material but the material characteristics seemed to have a larger influence on the process than the boundary conditions themselves. A profilometric study on numerical simulations has shown us that the elastic strain was not totally recovered and gave rise to residual stresses. Moreover, a study of the contact surface and the ploughing friction coefficient has been developed and a comparison to Bowden and Tabor model has been made. It has shown us that strain hardening modeling has an essential influence on the ploughing friction coefficient. Thus, we have performed scratch test on an AISI316L stainless steel in order to validate our numerical results.