Paper IX(iv) The variability of wear rate data in simultaneous experiments

Synopsis A recent study (Wallbridge and Dowson 1987) has proposed that wide variability in wear rate is a result of the inherent randomness in the mechanism of wear. The variation could be described by using a lognormal distribution, hence reconciling apparently contradictory results. It is possible that the variability in sliding wear is not intrinsic, but is a result of lack of control of all external influences in wear experiments. To investigate this, several sets of simultaneous wear tests have been performed under similar conditions. correlations between these results in order to determine the origin of the random nature of wear.