2. Comprehensive experimental and theoretical approaches

The basic approaches described above help clarify the mechanisms of interaction between an abrasive grain and the workpiece material, but cannot fully account for the phenomena associated with a population of abrasive grains that vary in size and shape and act repeatedly on the material. Various tests have therefore been developed to study these issues. After presenting a few commonly used tests, we review the experimental and theoretical results obtained regarding the following issues:

• We compare the intensities of two-body and three-body abrasion, and then present an experimental criterion specifying how macroscopic contact conditions influence the effective kinematics of abrasive grains in three-body abrasion;

• a study of the effective contact force between abrasive grains and the workpiece, and the effect...