A Dual Numerical-Experimental Approach For Modeling Wear Of Diamond Impregnated Tools

We propose a multiscale model able to predict the wear of the metallic surface used as the matrix in Diamond Impregnated Tools, considering the tribological interactions involved in the process. In the first stage of the contact, debris grains detach from the concrete due to the diamonds cutting ability and start to circulate in the contact zone where, in contact with water, they generate a slurry that defines the third body of the system and is able to abrade the matrix. At the scale of the interface, we treat the slurry bed as an equivalent fluid flowing with well-defined rheological properties. At the microscale, we discretize the wear as the sum of wear contributions due to each debris particle. This multiscale approach allows us to write a wear equation at the scale of the interface that considers the angularity and normal local load of debris grains and the hardness of the metallic surface. The model implements the independent experimental characterization of the rheology of the slurry and the wear properties of the metallic surface. The comparison of the numerical results with experiments at the scale of the tool in terms of wear rate is very encouraging, allowing us to use that model to predict wear not only in the context of DIT but also to adapt it to other similar tribological situations consisting of the wear of a soft surface caused by a flow of harder particles.