Wear testing for industry

Citation

(1999), "Wear testing for industry", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 51 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.1999.01851dab.008

Wear testing for industry

Wear testing for industry

Keywords Wear

Wear problems can limit the performance of industrial machinery, causing a considerable loss of efficiency, and reducing the intended lifespan of equipment.

A guide to wear testing for industry is currently in preparation which will provide practical advice and guidance for those in industry that need to plan or perform wear testing. This is being prepared as part of a DTI funded project which is being undertaken by NPL in collaboration with Neale Consulting Engineers.

A survey of UK industry was carried out which found that about 0.25 per cent of turnover of UK firms was lost as a result of problems due to wear. It also found that abrasion and erosion were by far the largest cause of industrial wear problems, although significant problems also occurred with applications where one component slides over another. This industrial need was not matched by previous scientific research that was largely concerned with sliding wear and friction.

The difficulties that arise through this mismatch in testing methods are not helped by the current status of standards in this area. Although there are a large number of specific specification standards concerning wear and friction there is a considerable amount of duplication, which is often not well specified or can even be inappropriate for the application concerned. There are only a small number of generic standards which are well founded and can be applied to different types of wear problems with appropriate choice of test conditions. Because of this there is considerable confusion in industry concerning the appropriate choice of wear or friction test.

Some interim publications are available. These are:

1. 1.

   Wear Testing Methods and Their Relevance to Industrial Wear Problems, NPL.

2. 2.

   Wear Testing Standards Database, NPL report CMMT (A)89, December 1997, price £25.00.

3. 3.

   An NPL Rotating Wheel Abrasion Test, NPL Measurement Note, CMMT (MN)30, price £25.00.

For further information on the project and orders for the publications listed above, please contact: David Godbear, Centre for Materials Measurement and Technology, National Physical Laboratory, Queen's Road, Teddington, Middlesex, TW1 1 0LW. Tel: +44 (0) 181 943 6768; Fax: +44 (0) 181 943 2989; E-mail: David.Godbear@NPL.CO.UK