An AFM study of single-contact abrasive wear: The Rabinowicz wear equation revisited

A nanoscale study of the abrasive wear behaviour of a ductile monophasic metallic alloy (the stainless steel AISI 316L) is presented. By using atomic force microscopy (AFM) based techniques, particularly a diamond tip mounted on a stiff steel cantilever, the contact of a single abrasive asperity was simulated, and it was possible to determine accurately the load threshold below which no measurable wear occurs. It was observed that, once this nanoscale threshold for wear is overcome, the worn volume increases linearly with the load, as predicted by the Rabinowicz model. However, it was found that, although this critical threshold for measurable wear is most certainly related with the yield-onset of plastic deformation, it cannot be predicted by using directly a criterion based on the bulk microhardness. Hence, the results presented in this paper strongly indicate that indentation size effects play a crucial role on the response to abrasive wear at the asperity contact level.