Effect of Material Hardness and Operating Conditions on Wear Rate of Sliding Tribopair

Wear of a material is one of the most undesirable processes experienced in practical applications. It results in energy loss, material degradation and life-shortening of machine components. This study aims to investigate the behavior of wear rate as a function of different operating parameters. The experiments were conducted on reciprocating tribometer, with three different tribopairs, of ball-on-disc configuration. The 52,100 chromium steel ball was allowed to slide with gun metal, mild-steel and EN-31 steel discs under different conditions. The wear rate for the specimens for each test was calculated by weight loss method. The effect of time, sliding distance and material hardness on the wear rate was examined there off. The Power Law and ANN models were developed for the estimation of wear rate. The model outputs were compared with the observed experimental results. The accuracy of the models was assessed using statistical parameters viz, coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and mean square error (MSE). It was observed that ANN model was more accurate compared to power law. Further, ANOVA analysis, with 5% p-value, was performed to enunciate the dominant factor affecting the wear rate. It was concluded that the load was the dominant factor influencing the wear rate and was succeeded by the velocity and hardness.