Wear Analysis for Engineers

Citation

(2003), "Wear Analysis for Engineers", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 55 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.2003.01855aae.002

Wear Analysis for Engineers

Wear Analysis for Engineers

Raymond G. BayerHNB PublishingNew YorkISBN: 0-9664286-5-X

Keywords: Wear, Analysis

The experienced tribologist, when presented with a failed component, can often suggest a number of potential mechanisms for failure and how the problem might be rectified depending on the details of the application. However, although such diagnoses are often successful, determining the correct response to a wear problem can be quite difficult and quantitative ranking of candidate solutions can be even more troublesome. This book introduces a wear analysis method for resolving such wear problems and developing designs to obtain acceptable wear performance. Although somewhat wordy and dry when describing methodology the book is also somewhat lacking in detailed description of the origins and limitations of some of the equations introduced for use in the analysis process. As such, it is not very useful to the neo-tribologist with little understanding of the subject and certainly unsuitable as a student text. However, the experienced tribologist will probably find that it is a good resource and the methodology described in the book is certainly valid in most cases.

Chapter 1 introduces the fundamentals of the analysis method, a combination of component examination, wear characterisation, modelling, evaluation and testing and how this might be implemented in a problem solving or design study. This is a clear introduction to the approach and sets up the rest of the book.

In Chapter 2, there is a basic introduction to tribiology with micrographs of worn surfaces and an attempt to explain the basic wear mechanisms to the reader. However, it is not always clear what the reader should be looking at in the micrographs (a few arrows and more detailed figure captions would help) and the explanations in the text are not always detailed enough for the novice reader. In particular, the section on lubrication is too short to be really useful and underplays the critical importance of lubricant and additive chemistry in many applications.

Chapters 3-7 give a more detailed exposition of the wear analysis method, covering techniques for examining the wear scar, characterisation of operating conditions, analytical approaches, data sources and special considerations. These chapters vary from the wordy descriptions of method to the brief explanation of quantitative data analysis where large numbers of potentially relevant equations are introduced often without the necessary background to assess their validity. As a resource for experienced engineers this is perfectly adequate but there is insufficient detail in many cases to allow the novice to navigate through the range of possibilities and choose the correct approach for their own application.

The book ends with perhaps the most useful chapter which introduces some examples of how the wear analysis method has been used to improve components. This allows much more insight to the novice reader than many of the previous chapters which are rather dry and difficult to read. However, it is somewhat lacking in examples where lubrication is a critical factor in the failure as is often observed in industry. The book could do with a summary and conclusions chapter to round it off but instead the examples are followed by a number of appendices. Some of the appendices are very useful (e.g. contact stress equations) whereas other are of little use (lists of friction coefficients).

In summary, this book has something to offer experienced engineers who are looking for a source of data and an analysis method for tribological failure. However, it is not really suitable for novice readers and students as the level of explanation is insufficient for them to fully benefit from the content.

For more details, contact: Professor Steve Bull, School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.