  In order to develop predictive wear laws, relevant material parameters and
their influence on the wear rate need to be identified. Despite decades of
research, there is no agreement on the mathematical form of wear equations and
even the simplest models, such as Archard's, contain unpredictable fit
parameters. Here, we propose a simple model for adhesive wear in dry sliding
conditions that contains no fit parameters and is only based on material
properties and surface parameters. The model connects elastoplastic contact
solutions with the insight that volume detachment from sliding surfaces occurs
in the form of wear particles, the minimum size of which can be estimated. A
novelty of the model is the explicit tracking of the sliding process, which
allows us to meaningfully connect particle emission rates and sizes to the
macroscopic wear rate. The results are qualitatively promising, but we identify
the necessity for more controlled wear experiments and the parameters needed
from such work in order to fully verify and improve our model.
