Currently there are no generally accepted methods to numerically or analytically model the shapes of wear tracks. Recent experiments at the University at Buffalo (Kania, 2004) showed normalized shapes of wear tracks for a cup-on-disk sliding wear contact. The experimental results showed that the contact moved from the outside to the inside over the first five to ten seconds of sliding. The final shape of the disks had the same general normalized shape while the normalized shape of the cup varied from a flat surface to a wavy surface.

The purpose of this work is to use a finite element simulation of the wear process to analyze the shapes of wear tracks for a cup-on-disk sliding wear contact. A mechanical and thermo-mechanical analysis will be applied using isothermal conditions and then with frictional heat generation. A local wear model, based on contact pressures and relative von Mises stress at the sliding surface contacts has been used with some success for modeling electromagnetic clutch wear during very brief engagements. Application of a version of this local wear model, with appropriate contact conditions to track the evolution of the wear tracks. Both isothermal and thermal mechanical (with frictional heating) models are simulated and two local wear models are employed. The two wear models give different results in terms of their relative amounts of wear of the two surfaces and the eventual shapes of the wear tracks.