THREE-BODY ABRASIVE WEAR IN A BALL-CRATERING TEST WITH LARGE ABRASIVE PARTICLES

Three-body abrasive wear resistance of mild steel, low alloy steel (Bisalloy) and 27%Cr white cast iron was investigated using a ball-cratering test. Glass beads, silica sand, quartz and alumina abrasive particles with sizes larger than $100{\mu}m$ were used to make slurries. It was found that the wear rates of all three materials tested increased with time when angular abrasive particles were used and were rather constant when round particles were used. This increase in wear rates was mainly due to the gradual increase in ball surface roughness with testing time. Abrasive particles with higher angularity caused higher ball surface roughness. Mild steel and Bisalloy were more affected by this ball surface roughness changes than the hard white cast iron. Generally, three-body rolling wear dominated. The contribution of two-body grooving wear increased when the ball roughness was significant. More grooves were found when round particles were used or the size of the particles was decreased.