The relationship between the wear of carbon brush materials and their elastic moduli

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Abstract
The wear of a number of different types of carbon brush materials has been examined during repeated sliding on copper. It is shown that the copper surface changes with time either as a result of transfer of carbon or by wear and damage. The wear of the copper is related to the amount of abrasive impurity in the brushes. Different materials generate different topographies on the copper, but the slopes of the surface irregularities, in general, become sufficiently low for the localized deformation of the carbons to be elastic. When the topography of the copper is artificially maintained constant, the rates of wear of different materials are then shown to be inversely proportional to their elastic moduli. It is concluded that wear of most types of carbon brush material occurs by fatigue of the regions of real contact after a large number of cycles of elastic stress.

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