Wear behavior of freshly cleaved single crystal calcite (CaCO_3) was investigated by continuous scanning using the Hysitron Triboindenter in ambient environment as a function of scanning frequency (1 Hz - 3 Hz) and contact load (2 μN - 8 μN). At lower loads below 4 μN, initiation of the ripples takes place at the bottom of the surface slope, which continue to propagate up the slope as scanning progresses. The orientation of these ripple structures is perpendicular to the long scan direction. As the number of scans increases, ripples become fully developed, and their height and periodicity increase with the number of scans. At 6 μN normal load, tip-induced wear occurs as the tip begins removing the ripple structures with increased number of scan cycles. As the contact load increased further, ripples did not initiate and only tip-induced wear occurred on the surface, and saturated after 20 scans. At 1 Hz frequency wear takes place as material slides towards the scan edges when the tip moves back and forth. Material removal rate increased with contact load and it is observed that the number of scans required to create a new surface is inversely proportional to the contact load. Possible mechanisms responsible for the formation of ripples at higher frequencies are attributed to the slope of the surface, piezo hysteresis, system dynamics, or a combination of effects. The wear regime is due to abrasive wear. Single crystal calcite hardness of 2.8±0.3 GPa and elastic modulus of 75±4.9 GPa were measured using nanoindentation and used to determine the wear mode.
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