Wearresistant

Wearresistant describes a material's ability to resist wear caused by friction, sliding, and surface contact. It depends on microstructure, toughness, hardness, and environment, and is not determined by hardness alone; a balance between hardness and fracture toughness is often required for durable parts.

Common wear mechanisms include abrasive wear from hard particles or rough surfaces, adhesive wear from bonding at interfaces, erosive wear from particle impact, and surface fatigue from repeated loading. Lubrication, coatings, and surface texturing can mitigate these effects.

Materials and coatings designed for wear resistance include cemented carbides (tungsten carbide in a cobalt binder), ceramics (alumina, silicon nitride), and advanced materials such as polycrystalline diamond and cubic boron nitride. Surface engineering offers hard coatings (TiN, CrN, TiAlN), diamond-like carbon, and ceramic-metal composites to extend life.

Wear resistance is measured with wear tests such as pin-on-disk or ball-on-disk experiments, yielding wear rate and volume loss. Standards from ASTM and ISO underlie testing. Applications span cutting tools, mining and drilling equipment, aerospace components, automotive parts, and medical implants, where material choice balances hardness, toughness, coating adhesion, and cost.