Abrasive wear

The general category of abrasive wear can be characterized by a single key word - cutting. Abrasive wear occurs when hard particles suspended in a fluid or projections from one surface roll or slide under pressure against another surface, thereby cutting the other surface. Indeed, machining would fall into the category of abrasive wear except that it is usually not "undesired," which is a condition of the wear definition. A machine tool - even a hand file - sliding under pressure across a softer metal cuts the metal, usually causing microscopic distortion of the surface structure and forming a distorted chip or fragment of the metal removed. Another very important characteristic of abrasive wear is the heat that is generated by friction between the two materials.