Research methods for the evaluation of the relevance of application oriented laboratory wear tests

In this work, different research methods and test procedures were examined and compared in order to have a better understanding of the relevance of various application oriented laboratory wear tests relative to the in-service performance of the steels in mining conditions. One of the important results of this study is that quite different wear events can be compared, when the wear rates are presented as the mass loss of the sample divided by the wear area, contact time, and density of the material. However, this kind of information is commonly very difficult to obtain for the in-service samples, and thus normalizing of the results with a reference material is often an easier route. On the other hand, thorough characterization and comparison of the wear surfaces and deformations is essential for the confirmation of the similarity of the wear mechanisms in different cases or different tests. In the studied case of the wear plate of a dumper truck body, several test methods were needed for the experimental simulation of the complex wear environment in the haulage of minerals.