Slijtvaste

Slijtvaste is a Dutch term that describes materials or surfaces with high resistance to wear. In materials science, wear resistance refers to the ability of a material to resist material loss due to friction, abrasion, erosion, or corrosion under specified operating conditions. Wear resistance results from a combination of hardness, toughness, microstructure, and the presence of protective surface layers or coatings. Hard materials such as cemented carbides and quenched, tempered steels, as well as advanced ceramics, typically offer high slijtvaste performance in demanding mechanical service. Protective coatings such as ceramic coatings, diamond-like carbon, and various PVD/CVD layers can significantly reduce wear, especially against abrasive or adhesive wear. Surface engineering techniques like nitriding, carburizing, or laser hardening further enhance slijtvaste behavior of components.

The tribological performance depends on multiple factors, including the counterface material, lubrication, contact geometry, load, speed, temperature, and atmosphere. Wear mechanisms include abrasive wear, adhesive wear, fatigue wear, and tribochemical wear. To evaluate slijtvaste properties, standardized wear tests such as pin-on-disk or block-on-ring configurations are used, producing metrics such as wear rate or volume loss and sometimes friction coefficients.

Applications for slijtvaste materials and coatings are wide, spanning cutting tools, dies and molds, bearings, valve seats, mining equipment, and automotive components. In design, engineers trade off hardness, toughness, and cost to achieve acceptable service life under the expected operating conditions.

See also tribology, wear, abrasion, surface engineering, and coatings.