Velocity dependence of adhesive wear due to asperity plowing

R Du and JQ Hu, MATERIALS TODAY COMMUNICATIONS, 46, 112614 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.mtcomm.2025.112614

Adhesive wear at sliding contact interfaces is governed by the failure of microscale asperities, influenced by material properties, interfacial adhesion, and sliding velocity. This study investigates the velocity- dependent wear mechanisms at the asperity level using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations across a spectrum of materials with tunable adhesion potentials. Our results reveal two distinct regimes: 1) Plasticity-dominated regime. At lower velocities, asperity interactions primarily result in plastic smoothing, leading to a decrease in the wear rate with increasing velocity. This behavior arises due to velocity- dependent contact forces, which exert a stronger influence than the relatively weak velocity dependence of wear volumes. 2) Fracture- dominated regime. Beyond a critical velocity, localized fracture generates debris particles, causing wear volumes to surge and wear rates to increase by orders of magnitude. The transition between these regimes is driven by competition between strain rate hardening and inertial effects. These findings clarify the non-monotonic velocity dependence of wear rates in tribological systems and provide predictive criteria for mitigating wear in engineering applications.

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