The wear of materials sliding against road surfaces

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 83, No. 941, 1990

M. Fiset, Department of Mining and Metallurgy, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, and D. Belley, Metal 7 Inc., Sept-lies, Québec

To better understand the wear process of various materials that may be used as blades on snow removal equipment, the first step is to evaluate the influence of the load applied and the moving speed on road wear rates of one type of steel and three types of polymers. While the behaviour of steel conforms to Archard's law, wear rates of polymers increase to a power of a of the load applied according to a model implying that the wear of these materials is due to fatigue. The wear rate of some of the polymers varies considerably in terms of speed, unlike the steel. The wear resistance of some of these polymers outclasses the steel tested as long as the speed is not too great. They, therefore, present interesting alternatives for snow removal on more fragile surfaces such as sidewalks and zone made of inter-block slabs.

Keywords: Wear resistance, Metallurgy, Steel, Polymers.