3. Mechanical law of abrasive machining

The process of material removal by abrasion schematically obeys Preston-Archard's law, which we set out in paragraph , first at the global scale of the machined part, then at the local scale of a contact element. We then sketch out a discussion of its physical origin and conditions of validity, a discussion which will be developed later, in the article [BM 7 053] . Although simply stated, this law clarifies a number of important points:

• it characterizes the efficiency of the material removal process in terms of an abrasion factor k* ;

• its formulation on a local scale allows a detailed study of the various processes; we therefore study the lapping process in paragraph . Its application to...