On abrasive wear property during three-body abrasion of wood

The three-body abrasion characteristics of various types of wood during abrasion with loose grains were investigated by analysis of the relationship between the microstructure of the contact surface and the counterface material. The results showed that the three-body abrasion wear rate in the axial section of Katsura wood increased with applied surface pressure but that in the tangential and radial sections did not always depend in the same way on the applied pressure. Analysis of various wood samples abraded in conjunction with wood, plastic and metal counterface materials showed that the wear coefficient for the three-body abrasion of the wood sample was smaller when the wood samples exhibited a greater yield stress. The wear coefficient based on yield stress tended to be larger for hardwoods than for coniferous woods. The wear coefficient was greatest when the yield stress of the counterface material was approximately two to three times larger than that of the wood sample. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.