While shown on three-dimensional wear maps, the operating parameters (contact pressure and sliding velocity) form a region of possible operating conditions for the material. The wear function (intensity, rate of wear, etc.) forms the surface of response to these conditions. The region of operating parameters contains sub-regions, whose boundaries correspond to the critical values of operating parameters, marking the points of change in the wear mechanism.

In the two-dimensional version of the wear map the response surface is not constructed, and the sub-regions indicate the type or mechanism of wear which occurs within them.