PLASTIC DEFORMATION AND WEAR PROCESS AT A SURFACE DURING UNLUBRICATED SLIDING.

THE PLASTIC DEFORMATION AND WEAR OF A 304 STAINLESS STEEL SURFACE SLIDING AGAINST AN ALUMINUM OXIDE RIDER WITH A SPHERICAL SURFACE WERE OBSERVED BY USING SCANNING ELECTRON AND OPTICAL MICROSCOPES. EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED IN A VACUUM OF 10** - **6 PA AND IN AN ENVIRONMENT OF 5 * 10** - **4 PA OF CHLORINE GAS AT 25 D. C. THE LOAD WAS 500 GRAMS AND THE SLIDING VELOCITY WAS 0. 5 CENTIMETER PER SECOND. THE DEFORMED SURFACE LAYER WHICH ACCUMULATES AND DEVELOPS SUCCESSIVELY IS LEFT BEHIND THE RIDER, AND STEP-SHAPED PROTURBANCES ARE DEVELOPED EVEN AFTER SINGLE PASS SLIDING UNDER BOTH ENVIRONMENTALCONDITIONS. A FULLY DEVELOPED SURFACE LAYER IS GRADUALLY TORN OFF LEAVING A CHARACTERISTIC PATTERN. THE MECHANISM FOR TEARING AWAY OF THE SURFACE LAYER FROM THE CONTACT AREA AND SLIDING TRACK CONTOUR IS EXPLAINED.