LAUSR

This article includes an analysis of techniques for determining wear of contact areas to show two lines of wear research – due to deformations and adhesion forces. It has been established that surface subroughness is not presently taken into account in calculations of wear despite the fact that this surface property is of increasing research interest. The paper aims to develop a mathematical model of wear for subrough surface contacts in the context of deformation and theories of adhesion. Mathematical wear modelling for subrough surfaces is based on studies on causes of their formation due to phase and structural heterogeneity of the material. The article considers contact interaction at the level of surface subroughness; physics of interaction of contact areas at the level of surface subroughness; a mathematical model of deformation and adhesive wear for subrough surface contacts of martensitic steels; some analytical dependences of the theoretical model for a body-centred tetragonal lattice. Analysis of the theoretical concepts shows that wear of subrough surface contacts depends largely on the deformation component, while the adhesive component is significant only during the ‘bedding-in’ period for a friction couple. The materials of the article can be used to calculate the wear for contact areas at the level of surface subroughness.