wear

Wear is related to interactions between surfaces and specifically the removal and deformation of material on a surface as a result of mechanical action of the opposite surface.
In materials science, wear is erosion or sideways displacement of material from its "derivative" and original position on a solid surface performed by the action of another surface.
Wear of metals occurs by the plastic displacement of surface and near-surface material and by the detachment of particles that form wear debris. The size of the generated particles may vary from millimeter range down to an ion range. This process may occur by contact with other metals, nonmetallic solids, flowing liquids, or solid particles or liquid droplets entrained in flowing gasses.
Wear can also be defined as a process where interaction between two surfaces or bounding faces of solids within the working environment results in dimensional loss of one solid, with or without any actual decoupling and loss of material. Aspects of the working environment which affect wear include loads and features such as unidirectional sliding, reciprocating, rolling, and impact loads, speed, temperature, but also different types of counter-bodies such as solid, liquid or gas and type of contact ranging between single phase or multiphase, in which the last multiphase may combine liquid with solid particles and gas bubbles.

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