ASTM B611-21

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it may not be technically possible to adequately depict all changes accurately, ASTM recommends that users consult prior editions as appropriate. In all cases only the current version
of the standard as published by ASTM is to be considered the official document.
Designation: B611 − 13 (Reapproved 2018) B611 − 21
Standard Test Method for
Determining the High Stress Abrasion Resistance of Hard
Materials
This standard is issued under the fixed designation B611; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. A
superscript epsilon (´) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.
1. Scope Scope*
1.1 This test method was developed for ranking the high-stress abrasion resistance of cemented carbides, but it has been
successfully used on ceramics, cermets, and metal matrix hardfacings with a hardness over 55 HRC. Rockwell hardness, C scale
(HRC). The feature of this test method that discriminates it from other abrasion tests is that the abrasive is forced against the test
specimen with a steel wheel with sufficient force to cause fracture of the abrasive particles. Some abrasion tests use rubber wheels
to force abrasive against test surfaces (Test Methods G65, G105,and G75G105). A rubber wheel produces low-stress abrasion while
a steel wheel produces high-stress abrasion.
1.2 In summary, this is a high-stress laboratory abrasion test for hard materials using a water slurry of aluminum oxide particles
as the abrasive medium and a rotating steel wheel to force the abrasive across a flat test specimen in line contact with the rotating
wheel immersed in the slurry.
1.3 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as standard. No other units of measurement are included in this standard.
1.3.1 Exceptions—Subsection 4.4 and Table 1 use abrasive grit designations for particle size. The value given in parentheses is
nominal dimension in micrometers based on sieve designation (Specification E11) and provided for information only. Subsection
6.2 uses the Rockwell hardness, B scale (HRB) as the standard unit of measure for hardness. In 6.4, 7.6, 7.7, and Table 1, rpm
is the standard unit of measure for rotational speed.
1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility
of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety, health, and environmental practices and determine the applicability of
regulatory limitations prior to use.
1.5 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization
established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued
by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.
2. Referenced Documents
2.1 ASTM Standards:
B311E11 Test Method for Density of Powder Metallurgy (PM) Materials Containing Less Than Two Percent PorositySpecifi-
cation for Woven Wire Test Sieve Cloth and Test Sieves
G40 Terminology Relating to Wear and Erosion
This test method is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee G02 on Wear and Erosion and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee G02.30 on Abrasive Wear.
Current edition approved Dec. 1, 2018Nov. 1, 2021. Published December 2018January 2022. Originally approved in 1976. Last previous edition approved in 20132018
as B611 – 13.B611 – 13 (2018). DOI: 10.1520/B0611-13R18.10.1520/B0611-21.
For referenced ASTM standards, visit the ASTM website, www.astm.org, or contact ASTM Customer Service at service@astm.org. For Annual Book of ASTM Standards
volume information, refer to the standard’sstandard’s Document Summary page on the ASTM website.
*A Summary of Changes section appears at the end of this standard
Copyright © ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, PO Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959. United States
B611 − 21
G65 Test Method for Measuring Abrasion Using the Dry Sand/Rubber Wheel Apparatus
G75 Test Method for Determination of Slurry Abrasivity (Miller Number) and Slurry Abrasion Response of Materials (SAR
Number)
G105 Test Method for Conducting Wet Sand/Rubber Wheel Abrasion Tests
2.2 American National Standard:
ANSI B74.12 Specification for the Size of Abrasive Grain - Grinding Wheels, Polishing and General Industrial Uses
3. Terminology
3.1 Definitions: For definitions of terms found in this test method, please refer to Terminology Standard G40.
3.2 Definitions of Terms Specific to This Standard:
3.2.1 abrasive wear, n—wear due to hard particles or hard protuberances forced against and moving along a solid surface.
3.2.2 high-stress abrasion, n—progressive material removal from a hard solid surface by the action of hard particles rolling or
sliding on that surface with sufficient force to cause fracture of the particles.
3.2.3 slurry, n—a suspension of solid material in liquid.
4. Summary of Test Method
4.1 The test specimen is a flat that is held in a vertical position tangent to a rotating steel wheel immersed in water slurry of
aluminum oxide particles.
4.2 The normal force holding the test specimen against the wheel is high enough to cause fracture of abrasive particles that travel
through the wheel/test specimen contact. The test metric is the volume of material worn from the test specimen in specified test
duration and under specified test conditions.
4.3 The test specimen is weighed to determine mass loss, which is converted to a volume loss using the density of the test material.
4.4 The slurry used in the test is composed of a specified mass of 30-mesh 30 grit (600 μm) aluminum oxide in a specified volume
of water.
4.5 There may be a corrosion component to the material removal, but it is considered to be negligible since the test timeduration
is only ten or twenty minutes (600 or 1200 seconds).10 min or 20 min.
5. Significance and Use
5.1 The extraction of minerals from the Earth’s mantlecrust usually requires fracturing rock with tools made from metals, but
which have been clad, overlaid, or coveredcoated in some fashion with hard materials. high hardness or wear-resistant materials,
or both. Drilling, crushing, and moving rock involves high-stress abrasion on the surfaces that make contact with the rock. The
stresses are high enough to crush/fracture crush or fracture the rock. This test method simulates this condition, and it is used to
screen new materials for these types of applications. It can also be used as a quality control tool for materials destined for
high-stress abrasion applications: slurry pumps, comminution equipment, recycling choppers, demolition equipment, etc.
5.2 Most abrasion tests use low-stress abrasion. The abrasive stays relatively intact during testing. High-stress abrasion simulates
applications where the force between an abrasive substance and a tool/component will be high enough to crush the abrasive. If this
describes an application under study, then this may be an appropriate test method to use.
6. Apparatus
6.1 General Description—Fig. 1 is a schematic of the test rig. The test specimen (a) contacts a steel wheel (b) on its centerline;
the water/grit slurry (c) is held in a slurry vessel; vanes, made from aluminum or steel vanes (d) are on both sides of the steel wheel
agitate the slurry. The vanes on the abrading wheel can be integral with the steel wheel, or they can be made from steel, aluminum
or brass angle and attached to the wheel with fasteners. The agitating vanes can be slightly curved or flat. The length of the vanes
Available from American National Standards Institute (ANSI), 25 W. 43rd St., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10036, http://www.ansi.org.
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NOTE 1—“a” is the test specimen; “b” is the steel wheel; “c” is the test slurry; “d” are agitating vanes. They can have a slight curve as shown or flat.
They can be from 3 to 13 mm high, but must have a minimum clearance of 3 mm on a side between the vanes and the vessel. They can be staggered
so that the vanes on one side make an angle of 45° with the vanes on the other side. vanes. The mass producing the normal force is “e.”
FIG. 1 Schematic of Test Rig
can be from 3 mm to 13 mm. The vanes must have a minimum clearance of 3 mm on a side between the vanes and the vessel.
They can be staggered so that the vanes on one side make an angle of 45° with the vanes on the other side. The normal load (force)
is applied by a mass (e) that is constant throughout the test; thetest. The slurry can be replenished if needed (Note:needed, since
slurry may splash out of uncovered machines)machines during the test, and the test. The test duration and wheel rotational speed
are fixed for the test.
6.2 Abrading Wheel—The wheel is made from AISI 1020 steel (80(80 HRB to 95 HRB); the outside diameter is 169169 mm 6
0.1 mm 0.1 mm when new, and the wheel shall be discarded when its diameter wears below 165 mm. The steel wheel has a contact
surface roughness of 0.5 μm to 0.8 μm (arithmetic surface roughness, Ra) as manufactured. A burr develops during use. It should
not be removed. The wheel is not dressed between uses. After use, the surface becomes impregnated with alumina particles, and
it has the appearance of a sand-blasted surface. Four agitating vanes are attached at 90° increments on both sides of the wheel.
The vanes must have a minimum radial clearance of 3 mm with the test samplespecimen when the wheel penetrates the test
specimen to produce a wear scar (the vanes must not contact the specimen during testing). The wheel width is 12.712.7 mm 6
0.1 mm.
6.3 Test Specimen—The test specimen dimensions are shown in Fig. 2 (from Test Method. All dimensions are G65). It in
millimeters. The test surfaces should have a surface roughness in the range of 0.1 to 1 μm Ra on the test surfaces.an arithmetic
surface roughness (Ra) less than 1 μm. Test specimen surfaces “a” and “b” must be flat and parallel within 0.01 mm. Chamfered
edges are recommended.
6.4 Drive Motor—A 1 hp motor with a gear reduction unit has been found suitable for use, but other motors (hydraulic or DC
motors, etc.) could be used if they have the torque requirements to rotate the wheel with a 200 N “braking” force applied to the
outside diameter. The wheel can be directly mounted to the drive or it can be mounted on a spindle which is driven by a motor.
Whatever the mechanism, the radial runout of the wheel shall be less than 60.01 mm and widthwise runout shall be less than
60.05 mm. The motor speed shall be controlled to the specified rpm 62 6 2 rpm.
NOTE 1—While some standards that conform to metric practice use seconds as the basic unit for time and radians per second for rotational speed, rpm
is used here to mean revolutions per minute of the wheel, a parameter which is historically used when conducting and documenting tests of this kind.
6.5 Specimen Holder—The centerline of the pivoting specimen holder should be aligned with the tangent point of the system with
B611 − 21
FIG. 2 Test Specimen Dimensions
a new wheel. The sideways movement of the holder should be less than 0.2 mm and it should be designed to place the wear scar
in the center of the test specimen. Subsized test specimens can be held in special holders that allow the flat face of the test specimen
in full wheel contact. If the wear scar runs into the holding device, the test specimen should be considered inadequate in size for
testing with the standard procedure.
6.6 Slurry Vessel—The internal dimensions of the vessel that contains the slurry are shown in Fig. 3. All dimensions are in
millimeters. The vessel can be made from metals or plastic and corrosion-resistant materials are preferred. In this design, a flat
panel is fastened and sealed to the chamber shown to complete the vessel. Cutout “a” is an option clearance for the specimen pivot.
Some test rigs do not need the spindle hole because the vessel clamps to a faceplate containing the wheel spindle. The slurry must
be replaced for every test so a drain or other way of removing the slurry is advisable.
7. Procedure
7.1 Specimen Preparation—The test surface of the test specimen should be flat and not contain errors of form (ridges, waves,
bumps, etc.) greater than 2.0 μm. A test specimen can be tested on the front and backside as long as the holder references the
specimen from the unworn surface.
7.2 Specimen Cleaning—Test specimens should be degreased with a solvent that does not attack the test surface or leave a film.
Ultrasonic cleaning for a timeduration from 3030 s to 90 s 90 s in acetone has been found to be adequate for most metals and
cermets.
7.3 Specimen Weighing—Weigh the test specimen to 60.001 g three times and take the average weight as the starting weight.
Ferrous materials should be demagnetized before testing.
7.4 Specimen Mounting—Affix the specimen in the loading arm without touching the test surface. The centerline of the test
specimen should be in line with the centerline of the wheel. Apply the testing normal force by placing a mass on the specimen
arm such that it develops a 200 N force pushing the test specimen against the wheel.
7.5 Slurry Preparation—Pour the 30-grit abrasive into the slurry vessel with the test specimen in place and loaded against the
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FIG. 3 Slurry Vessel
wheel. The level of the grit should be 2525 mm to 30 mm below the wheel centerline. Determine the weight of grit used to fill
the vessel by pouring the grit from a container that is weighed, reweighed when filled, and reweighed again after filling. The slurry
is to have an abrasive/water ratio of 4 g of grit for every millilitremilliliter of water. For example, if it took 100 g of abrasive to
fill the hopper to the required level (25/30 mm (25 mm to 30 mm below centerline) then 25 mL of water must be added. Distilled
water should be added to the vessel as wheel rotation commences. A fresh slurry is required for every test.
7.6 Start Wheel Rotation After Loading and Slurry Filling—The wheel speed shall be 5050 rpm or 100 rpm under load depending
on the procedure used. Wheel revolutions shall be continuously recorded
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