In-situ X-ray tomography of wear: a feasibility study

Professor James Marrow, Mr Yijun Lim, and colleagues from the Department of Engineering Science in Oxford utilised tomography to study the wear of an aluminum alloy, to include imaging the total depth of the wear scar and measuring the real area of contact and surface primary profile roughness, whilst still preserving the end-of-wear condition.

These results were achieved by 3D morphology, the images of which were produced in-situ using X-ray tomography.

This paper, published in Tribology International, explains the experiment was a proof-of-concept, illustrating the utility of tomography for studying wear, without the need to disassemble the contact or disturb the debris bed, and serves as a starting point for a new approach to the investigation of wear phenomena.