Effects of the Pin-on-Disc Parameters on the Wear of Alumina

Abstract

There is a growing interest in the application of ceramic as high wear resistance materials due to the unique properties. Although brittleness and low toughness, recent improvements in alumina processing have lessen this restrictions and suggest improvements in wear resistance which in turn have driven some research on this. Since a direct comparison between the many published works regarding this wear improvement is complicated due to the fact that wear resistance is a response of the microstructure, material and testing condition, the work herein presented aims to first do a literature review on the main parameters to be controlled in a pin-on-disc apparatus on the wear of alumina and then discuss preliminary test results and analyze the influence of critical parameters as load and sliding speed in a pin-on-disc wear test in a dense and sub micrometer grain size alumina.