Description of Abrasive Particle Shape and Its Relation to Two-Body Abrasive Wear

Abstract
Recent developments in the characterization of particle abrasivity are described in this paper. A new numerical particle abrasivity descriptor based on particle angularity has been developed and compared with a descriptor developed previously. The relationships of these descriptors and the reciprocated shape factor to two-body abrasive wear together with the effects of particle size, load and speed is investigated. Seven types of mineral abrasives were used in the tests. Two-body abrasive wear tests were conducted on specially manufactured disks from all types of mineral abrasives used in the tests. All the abrasives tested were characterized by a newly and previously developed abrasivity parameter and by the commonly used shape descriptor, i.e., reciprocated shape factor. In order to isolate the effects of particle shape on its abrasivity, the experiments were conducted with all operating variables except particle shape held at the same level. It was found that abrasive wear rates were linearly proportional to the newly developed shape parameter. The effects of particle size, applied load and speed were also briefly examined.