Which wear mechanism is driven by hard particles between bearing surfaces?

• A. Adhesive wear from bonding of surfaces
• B. Third-body wear from debris
• C. Abrasive wear from hard particles between bearing surfaces
• D. Creep wear due to bone remodeling

Answer: (C)

Hard particles between sliding bearing surfaces act like tiny abrasives that plow and cut into the contacting materials. As the surfaces move, these hard particles grind away material, creating grooves and removing material from both surfaces. This is the defining feature of abrasive wear: material is removed mainly because hard particles shear and plow the surfaces.

Adhesive wear, by contrast, comes from surfaces bonding together at contact and then tearing apart, transferring material or leaving adhesive residues—not from hard particles acting between the surfaces. Creep wear due to bone remodeling is a biological, time-dependent deformation process and not driven by hard particles between surfaces. Third-body wear from debris describes wear from loose particles in the contact, which can include hard particles, but the scenario described emphasizes the cutting action of hard particles themselves, which is the hallmark of abrasive wear.