Desgaste

Desgaste is the gradual loss of material from solid surfaces that are in contact and subject to relative motion, chemical reactions, or environmental exposure. In tribology, the science of friction, wear, and lubrication, desgaste describes how surfaces degrade over time and affects the performance, efficiency, and lifespan of machines and components.

There are several wear mechanisms commonly identified. Abrasive wear occurs when hard particles or asperities remove material by cutting or plowing the surface. Adhesive wear results from material transfer between surfaces under high contact stresses, potentially leading to galling or scuffing. Fatigue wear arises from cyclic stresses that initiate and propagate cracks, causing surface flaking. Erosive wear is produced by the impact of particles or droplets, while tribochemical wear involves chemical reactions at the interface that accelerate material loss.

Causes of desgaste include inadequate lubrication, excessive loads or speeds, high temperatures, rough or mismatched surface finishes, and the presence of abrasive particles in the environment. Material choice and design also influence wear susceptibility, as harder counterfaces and appropriate hardness ratios can reduce wear rates.

Wear is often quantified by wear rate or volume loss, and models such as Archard’s law relate wear to load, sliding distance, and material hardness. In practice, controlling desgaste involves proper lubrication, selecting suitable materials and surface treatments (for example, hard coatings or surface hardening), optimizing geometries to lower contact stresses, maintaining clean operating conditions, and monitoring temperature and wear progression.

Applications of wear considerations span mechanical components like gears, bearings, piston rings, cam followers, and cutting tools, as well as biomedical implants where wear must be minimized to extend service life.