Wear Assessment and Reduction for Sustainability: Some Applications

Wear assessment and reduction are topics of great significance in green tribology as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. In fact, minimization of wear plays a fundamental role in tribology and sustainability, because it promotes enhancement of useful life of components, limitation of waste material and dangerous debris and energy saving. When these goals are achieved in biomechanical applications, they result in improvements of health and life quality of human beings (SDG3). In the industrial field the main result of wear assessment and optimized design of components and processes is the reduction of pollution and minimization of energy dissipation and costs (SDG9, SDG12). In this paper the analysis of different wear assessment workflows and techniques is presented, and advantages in terms of sustainability are discussed. Some case studies are presented to demonstrate how wear assessment helped achieving sustainable products and applications. An example of redesign of mixing blades, based on digital wear evaluation techniques and application of a power consumption prediction model is presented. Experimental results show that the new design results in a longer durability of the blades and in a lower power consumption. Another case study regarding the evaluation of damage of teeth due to friction is presented. Results were used to make a diagnosis and treat the patient to prevent further teeth damages.