Mechanism of Wear by Ribbon and Paper

While wear by materials such as ribbon and paper represents a significant and identifiable problem in the business machine industry, it has received little attention in the wear literature. In this paper the results of a study into the nature of the wear processes involved and the various factors which influence them are presented. A significant result of that study is the conclusion that the basic wear processes for both materials are similar, i.e., abrasion by small hard particles as compared to an adhesive mechanism for paper as proposed by some in the literature.