Where does abrasion collide?

In tribology, abrasion is the wearing away of a solid surface by hard particles or a rough counterface sliding against it, removing material as asperities plough and cut. Archard's 1953 Contact and Rubbing of Flat Surfaces gave the classic account linking the volume of material worn away to load and sliding distance. The referent is a materials-wear mechanism quantified by volume loss, the general physical process of which tooth and rock abrasion are particular cases.[1]

Unit

Volume of material removed per unit load and sliding distance

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Quantified by mass or volume loss in wear testing against load and distance

In geomorphology, abrasion is the mechanical wearing of bedrock or sediment by rock fragments carried in a moving agent such as a glacier, river, or wind, grinding and polishing the surface beneath. Hallet's 1979 A Theoretical Model of Glacial Abrasion modelled how debris held in basal ice scours the rock it passes over. The referent is a landscape-shaping erosion process measured by rate of surface lowering, the same physical idea as industrial wear or tooth abrasion acting on rock.[2]

Unit

Rate at which rock surfaces are worn down by entrained particles

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Estimated from erosion rates, striations, and polished surfaces

In dentistry, abrasion is the loss of tooth tissue by mechanical wear from something other than tooth-to-tooth contact, classically over-vigorous brushing with an abrasive paste wearing notches at the necks of teeth. Addy and Shellis's 2006 chapter examines how abrasion interacts with attrition and erosion in overall tooth wear. The referent is wear of the tooth by an external agent, distinguished from attrition (tooth against tooth) and erosion (acid), a clinical instance of the general abrasion mechanism.[3]

Unit

Amount and pattern of tooth tissue lost to external mechanical wear

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Assessed by tooth-wear indices and by the site and form of the lesions