Review of Scratch Test Studies of Abrasion Mechanisms

The use of scratch tests to simulate the material removal mechanisms which occur during abrasion is reviewed. Although useful studies of the effect of the rake angle on material removal have been carried out using diamond tools, closer simulation of the mechanisms of material removal can be obtained using actual irregular individual abrasive particles as scratch tools. Previous studies are reviewed in which scratch tests have been performed with both conventional scratch test instruments and a specially designed system used for in situ scratch tests in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Multiple-pass scratch tests over the same scratch path have been shown to create surface features and wear debris particles which are very similar to those produced by low-stress abrasion. Alumina (Al2O3) particles have been shown to produce continuous micromachining chips from the hard, brittle carbide phase of Stellite alloys, establishing direct cutting as the important mechanism of material removal for this type of abrasive. An in situ study of material removal from white cast irons by quartz particles has provided conclusive evidence that carbide removal does not occur by direct cutting but rather always involves microfracture. Previously unpublished work which has compared scratch tests with crushed quartz and alumina particles is included. Also described is a new scratch test system which controls the depth of cut rather than the scratch load in order to simulate high-stress abrasion, in which abrasive particles are constrained to a fixed depth of cut. Preliminary new results show substantially different carbide fracture behavior under fixed-depth conditions.