Modelling the tribo-corrosion interaction in aqueous sliding conditions

In corrosion wear, one of the most commonly observed phenomena is the synergism where both corrosion and wear are significantly increased by the tribo-corrosion interactions, leading to much greater material losses than produced by the sum of losses by either process alone. However, mechanisms for the synergistic effect are generally not well understood and there has been little effort in modelling synergistic processes. In this paper, mechanisms for the interactions between corrosion and sliding wear of metals are proposed and a mathematical model is developed which incorporates the various factors affecting corrosion wear, including experimental and environmental conditions and material properties. Many of the observed phenomena in corrosion wear can be explained. It also provides a good basis for wear map construction and would be especially useful in carrying out dimensional analyses for constructing such maps. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.