Abstract-Researches on the wear of metals have brought new understanding and advanced major concepts of tribology. The availability of new testing methods and instruments have made possible the detailed study of the microstructure, nanostructure, and compositions of contact surfaces. Earlier work was concentrated on the mechanics of solid contact, understanding the true area of contact, asperity plasticity, and transfer during sliding. The scanning electron microscope and the atomic force microscope have provided fascinating insights and detailed information on surface structure. There have also been developments in computational modelling of wear by finite element methods, molecular dynamics, and fracture mechanics. Many wear models and equations in the literature have been developed. No single predictive equation or group of limited equations have been found for general and practical use. Various regimes of mechanical and corrosive wear for any particular pair of rubbing materials can be shown on a single wear map plotted on axes of normalised pressure and sliding velocity. In principle the map can be divided into areas corresponding to different wear regimes, with boundaries of sliding speed and contact pressure beyond which a purely mechanical view of wear would be grossly in error, owing to the effects of oxidation.