Spherical Particles Formation in Lubricated Sliding Contact -Micro-explosion due to the Thermally-activated Wear Process-

The mechanism of various spherical particles formation from wide range of tribo-systerns is suggested and deduced by the action of micro-explosion on the basis of the thermally-activated wear theory, in which the flash temperature at contact could be reached clearly upto the material molten temperature due to the secondary activation energy from the exothermic reactions involving lubricant thermo-decomposition, metals oxidation, hydrogen reactions and other possible complex thermo-reactions at the contacts. Various shapes of spherical particles generated from the tribosystem can be explained by the toroidal action of micro-explosion accompanied with the complex thermo-chemical reactions at the contact surfaces or sub-surfaces.