slijtagevolumes

Slijtagevolumes, or wear volumes, is a metric used in tribology to quantify material loss due to wear. It represents the volume of material removed from a specimen during a defined wear test or service period and is typically expressed in cubic millimeters (mm^3) or cubic centimeters (cm^3). The volume can be determined directly from surface topography measurements using 3D profilometry, optical coherence or white-light scanning, or indirectly from mass loss Δm converted to volume via V = Δm/ρ, where ρ is the material density.

In laboratory experiments, such as pin-on-disk, ball-on-flat, or linear wear tests, the cumulative wear volume is obtained by measuring the volume loss over the elapsed sliding distance or time. Slijtagevolumes are used to compare the wear resistance of different materials, coatings, or lubricants under specified conditions and can indicate performance under a given tribological regime.

The value depends on the wear mechanism (adhesive, abrasive, corrosive) and is influenced by several factors, including contact geometry, normal load, sliding speed, temperature, lubrication, environment, surface roughness, and material microstructure. Because wear volume integrates damage over the tested conditions, it must be reported together with test parameters to be meaningful.

Relation to wear rate: wear volume is related to the wear rate, often expressed as Wv/L or Wv/t, where L is sliding distance and t is time, respectively. However, wear volumes remain condition-specific and are not directly comparable across different test setups without standardized or matched conditions.