Abrasion Testing

What is abrasion testing?

When abrasion is the predominant factor causing deterioration of your materials this test will give you data to compare materials or coatings and can help you predict the life time of a material or coating.

What abrasion testing measures

Abrasion testing is used to test the abrasive resistance of solid materials. Materials such as metals, composites, ceramics, and thick (weld overlays and thermal spray) coatings can be tested with this method. The intent of this test method is to produce data that will reproducibly rank materials in their resistance to scratching abrasion under a specified set of conditions.

The value of abrasion testing

The test should not be used to predict the exact resistance of a given material in a specific environment. Its value lies in predicting the ranking of materials in a similar relative order of merit as would occur in an abrasive environment. Volume loss data obtained from test materials whose lives are unknown in a specific abrasive environment may, however, be compared with test data obtained from a material whose life is known in the same environment. The comparison will provide a general indication of the worth of the unknown materials if abrasion is the predominant factor causing deterioration of the materials.

How Stork experts conduct abrasion testing

Stork CRS is one of few commercial laboratories that offer rubber wheel and pin abrasion testing capability. Stork CRS can conduct abrasion tests according to ASTM G65, "Standard Test Method for Measuring Abrasion Using the Dry Sand/Rubber Wheel Apparatus," and ASTM G132, "Standard Test Method for Pin Abrasion Testing."

ASTM G65 is performed by loading a rectangular test sample against a rotating rubber wheel and depositing sand of controlled grit size, composition, and flow rate between them. The wheel is rotated in the direction of the flow of sand. The mass of the test sample is recorded before and after conducting a test and the difference between the two values is the resultant mass loss due to dry sand abrasion. To develop a comparison table for ranking different materials with respect to each other, it is necessary to convert this mass loss to volume loss to account for the differences in material densities.
ASTM G132 is performed using two pin specimens; the subject material and a reference material. A pin is positioned perpendicular to an abrasive surface, which is mounted on and supported by a flat surface. The test machine permits relative motion between the abrasive surface and the pin surface. The wear track of the pin is continuous and non-overlapping. The pin rotates about its axis during testing. The amount of wear is determined by weight loss. The reference specimen wear is included in the calculation in order to correct for abrasivity variations.

Meeting Standards

Stork Materials Technology’s quality program meets the ISO/IEC Guide 17025 standards (equivalent to the relevant laboratory requirements of the ISO 9002 series of standards).

Pin Abrasion Testing at Stork

Abrasion Testing at Stork

Stork Locations offering Abrasion Testing services:

Stork Climax Research Services - Wixom, MI

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