Subsurface deformation studies of aluminium during wear and its theoretical understanding using molecular dynamics

Adopting the bonded interface technique for wear experiments under vacuum, this paper reports the nature of the localised shear bands that appear at the different deformation zones of the subsurface of aluminium under different sliding conditions. The plastic deformations are mapped under both low load/low sliding velocities as well as high load and high sliding velocities. A monotonic change in local plastic strain as a function of depth at low sliding velocities give way to a discontinuity separating two different zones with differing plastic behaviour for high sliding speed wear test. Besides shear bands, bonded interface also reveals the presence of kinks particularly in the samples subjected to wear test with high sliding velocities. A molecular dynamic simulation of the wear process successfully replicated the experimental observation, thus allowing us to discuss the mechanism of subsurface deformation during the wear process in the absence of any significant oxide layer for aluminium under sliding condition.