Abstract
The wear rate of a low carbon steel as a function of contact load was obtained from the wear experiments performed in wet or dry air by using a wear test rig of pin-on-disk type, and the T1-transition from severe to mild wear was mainly investigated. Both the severe wear rate and the transition load in wet air were higher than those in dry air.
The condition for the T1-transition to occur was then analyzed on the basis of a newly proposed wear model involving the effects of adsorption, oxidation, work-hardening, and flat-surface formation. The chemical condition of the asperity surface of the disk affected the T1-transition more than that of the pin. The analytical results on the probability for the occurrence of adhesive wear proposed in the present study explained the above-mentioned experimental results well.
