Using an atomic force microscope, a nanoscale wear characterization method has been applied to a commercial steel substrate AISI 52100, a common bearing material. Two wear mechanisms were observed by the presented method: atom attrition and elastoplastic ploughing. It is shown that not only friction can be used to classify the difference between these two mechanisms, but also the ‘degree of wear’. Archard's Law of adhesion shows good conformity to experimental data at the nanoscale for the elastoplastic ploughing mechanism. However, there is a distinct discontinuity between the two identified mechanisms of wear and their relation to the load and the removed volume. The length-scale effect of the material's hardness property plays an integral role in the relationship between the ‘degree of wear’ and load. The transition between wear mechanisms is hardness-dependent, as below a load threshold limited plastic deformation in the form of pile up is exhibited. It is revealed that the presented method can be used as a rapid wear characterization technique, but additional work is necessary to project individual asperity interaction observations to macroscale contacts.

使用原子力显微镜，纳米级磨损表征方法已应用于商业钢基材 AISI 52100，一种常见的轴承材料。通过所提出的方法观察到两种磨损机制：原子磨损和弹塑性耕作。结果表明，不仅可以使用摩擦来对这两种机制之间的差异进行分类，还可以使用“磨损程度”来分类。Archard 的粘附定律显示出与弹塑性犁机制的纳米级实验数据的良好一致性。然而，两种已识别的磨损机制及其与负载和去除体积的关系之间存在明显的不连续性。材料硬度特性的长度尺度效应在“磨损程度”和载荷之间的关系中起着不可或缺的作用。磨损机制之间的过渡取决于硬度，因为低于负载阈值时，会出现堆积形式的有限塑性变形。结果表明，所提出的方法可用作快速磨损表征技术，但需要额外的工作将单个粗糙相互作用观察结果投射到宏观接触。