Numerical Estimation of Fretting Fatigue Lifetime Using Damage and Fracture Mechanics

Fretting fatigue is a complex tribological phenomenon that can cause premature failure of connected components that have small relative oscillatory movement. The fraction of fretting fatigue lifetime spent in crack initiation and in crack propagation depends on many factors, e.g., contact stresses, amount of slip, frequency, environmental conditions, etc., and varies from one application to another. Therefore, both crack initiation and propagation phases are important in analysing fretting fatigue. In this investigation, a numerical approach is used to predict these two portions and estimate fretting fatigue failure lifetime under a conformal contact configuration. For this purpose, an uncoupled damage evolution law based on principles of continuum damage mechanics is developed for modelling crack initiation. The extended finite element method approach is used for calculating crack propagation lifetimes. The estimated results are validated with previously reported experimental data and compared with other available methods in the literature.     

Finite Element Analysis of Localized Plasticity in Al 2024-T3 Subjected to Fretting Fatigue

Fretting fatigue is a combination of two complex mechanical phenomena, namely, fretting and fatigue. Fretting appears between components that are subjected to small relative oscillatory motion. Once these components undergo cyclic fatigue load at the same time, fretting fatigue occurs. Fretting fatigue is an important issue in aerospace structural design. Many studies have investigated fretting fatigue behavior; however, the majority have assumed elastic deformation and very few have considered the effect of plasticity. The main goal of this study is to monitor the effect of different fretting fatigue primary variables on localized plasticity in an aluminum alloy (Al 2024-T3) test specimen. In order to extract the stress distribution at the contact interface under elasto-plastic conditions, a modified finite element contact model was used. The contact model was verified through comparison with an elastic analytical solution. Then, a bilinear elasto-plastic isotropic hardening model with a von Mises yield surface was implemented to simulate the material behavior of the aluminum alloy. The effect of different fretting fatigue primary variables, such as axial stress, contact geometry, and coefficient of friction, on localized plasticity was investigated. Finally, the relationship between the location of maximum localized plasticity and Ruiz fretting damage parameter with the crack initiation site is discussed.     

Fretting fatigue behaviour of Ti–6Al–4V alloy under plane bending stress and contact stress

Fretting fatigue tests for Ti–6Al–4 V alloy were conducted by use of the plate fatigue specimen with bolt-tightened shoe on both sides of the plate. It was clarified that the repeated bending stress at the contact area where fretting fatigue failure starts linearly decreased as stress over the contact area increased. Fretting fatigue crack starts from the pit where stress concentrate. The pit initiates when fretting debris were removed from the surface striation formed due to the contact slip movement. The fretting fatigue crack initiation mode was transgranular, while the fretting fatigue crack propagation mode was striation.     

钢丝微动疲劳裂纹萌生寿命预测研究*

钢丝微动疲劳过程中,钢丝裂纹萌生特性直接影响其裂纹扩展特性,进而制约钢丝微动疲劳寿命,因此开展钢丝微动疲劳裂纹萌生寿命预测研究具有重要意义。基于有限元法、摩擦学理论和断裂力学理论,运用Smith-Watson-Topper（SWT）多轴疲劳寿命准则建立考虑磨损的钢丝微动疲劳裂纹萌生寿命预测模型,基于多种不同的钢丝疲劳参数估算方法对钢丝的微动疲劳裂纹萌生寿命进行了预测,并探究接触载荷、疲劳载荷、交叉角度及钢丝直径等微动疲劳参数对钢丝微动疲劳裂纹萌生寿命的影响规律。结果表明：基于中值法的预测结果最接近实际值;在微动疲劳过程中,钢丝微动疲劳裂纹萌生寿命主要与接触载荷和疲劳载荷相关。通过引入微动损伤参数建立简化的适用于钢丝绳的钢丝微动疲劳裂纹萌生寿命预测模型,通过与考虑磨损的预测模型计算结果进行对比验证了该模型的准确性。     

Numerical Investigation into the Effect of Contact Geometry on Fretting Fatigue Crack Propagation Lifetime

Fretting fatigue is a phenomenon in which two contact surfaces undergo a small relative oscillatory motion due to cyclic loading. There is a need to analyze the effects of contact geometry on crack propagation under fretting fatigue conditions. In this investigation, a finite element modeling method was used to study the effects of different contact geometries along with crack–contact interaction on crack propagation lifetime. Different contacts geometries—that is, cylindrical on flat and flat on flat—along with different contact span widths were analyzed. In addition, the effects of different contact spans on stress distribution at the contact interface were investigated. The computed crack propagation life was compared with experimental results. It was found that the crack initiated near the contact trailing edge for all contact geometries, which agreed with experimental observations. In terms of crack propagation for different contact spans, the fretting fatigue life for a two-based cylindrical pad was shorter than that for a two-based flat pad. By increasing the contact span width for both flat and cylindrical pads, the crack propagation lifetime increased. A comparison between the experimental and numerical results demonstrated a difference of about 18% in crack propagation lifetime.     

Ti-6Al-4V燕尾榫结构微动疲劳裂纹萌生及扩展行为研究

针对Ti-6Al-4V钛合金燕尾榫连接结构在不同载荷下的微动疲劳现象,采用榫形微动疲劳试验进行研究,并对裂纹萌生扩展、微动磨损及断口进行分析。结果表明,微动疲劳使构件疲劳寿命显著降低约70%;疲劳载荷对微动裂纹扩展的影响比对裂纹萌生的影响更大;微动疲劳裂纹起始于接触面边缘,与接触表面约成45°角,裂纹扩展到60~150μm后转向与接触表面垂直;微动疲劳断口形貌表面在微动磨损区具有多个裂纹源点,但只有一个主裂纹形成。     

Characterization of fretting wear behavior of Cu–Al coating on Ti–6Al–4V substrate

Fretting wear and fretting fatigue are two commonly observed material damages when two contacting bodies with a clamping load are under the oscillatory motion. In this study, fretting wear damage of Cu–Al coating on titanium alloy, Ti–6Al–4V substrate was investigated using the dissipated energy approach. Fretting tests were conducted with either no fatigue load or the maximum fatigue load of 300 MPa and stress ratio of 0.1 on the substrate (specimen). In order to investigate the effect of contact load and contact size, different pad sizes and contact loads were used in the tests. Accumulated dissipated energy versus wear volume data showed a linear relationship regardless of fatigue loading condition on specimen with the smaller pad size. However, two separate linear relationships were observed based on the fatigue loading condition with the larger pad size, such that a relatively more dissipated energy was required for a certain amount of wear with fatigue load on the specimen. The linear relationship between the accumulated dissipated energy and wear volume for both pad sizes extended from partial to gross slip regimes and was not affected by the applied contact load. Further, fretting tests with and without fatigue load resulted in different shapes of fretting loops when the larger pad size was used.     

Prediction of fretting fatigue behavior under elastic-plastic conditions

Fretting fatigue generally leads to the degradation of the fatigue strength of a material due to cyclic micro-slip between two contacting materials. Fretting fatigue is regarded as an important issue in designing aerospace structures. While many studies have evaluated fretting fatigue behavior under elastic deformation conditions, few have focused on fretting fatigue behavior under elastic-plastic deformation conditions, especially the crack orientation and fatigue life prediction for Ti-6Al-4V. The primary goal of this study was to characterize the fretting fatigue crack initiation behavior in the presence of plasticity. Experimental tests were performed using pad configurations involving elastic-plastic deformations. To calculate stress distributions under elastic-plastic fretting fatigue conditions, FEA was also performed. Several parametric approaches were used to predict fretting fatigue life along with stress distribution resulting from FEA. However, those parameters using surface stresses were unable to establish an equivalence between elastic fretting fatigue data and elastic-plastic fretting fatigue data. Based on this observation, the critical distance methods, which are commonly used in notch analysis, were applied to the fretting fatigue problem. In conclusion, the effective strain range method when used in conjunction with the SMSSR parameter showed a good correlation of data points between the pad configurations involving elastic and elastic plastic deformations.     

Effect of high temperature on the characterization of fretting wear regimes at Ti6Al4V interfaces

Fretting wear is a destructive phenomenon that can accelerate crack initiation in vibrating components, leading to premature catastrophic failures. Among the most important characteristics of fretting is the transition from mixed fretting wear to gross slip because of its detrimental effects on fatigue life. In this paper, a study was conducted that characterized the critical normal loads and displacements corresponding to this transition in Ti6Al4V interfaces at room temperature and 450 °C (842 °F). Experimental testing shows that there is a relationship between critical load and displacement that is temperature dependant. Tests conducted at or near the critical values of load and displacement exhibited extreme galling and evidence of cold welding. In the gross slip tests, the measured coefficient of friction also varied with applied load, which correlates with the Hertzian contact model.     

Development of a test device for the evaluation of fretting in point contact

Fretting wear and fatigue may occur between any two contacting surfaces, wherever short‐amplitude reciprocating sliding is present for a large number of cycles. A test device has been developed for the evaluation of fretting fatigue and wear in partial and gross slip conditions. Three similar sphere‐on‐plane contacts run at the same time. Normal force, tangential force or displacement amplitude and constant bulk stress can be controlled and measured separately. Reciprocating tangential displacement is produced with rotational motion, the amplitude and frequency of which can be adjusted and controlled accurately by an electric shaker. The number of load cycles for crack initiation and growth is determined with strain‐gauge measurements near the fretting point of contact. The contact surfaces are measured with 3D optical profilometer before fretting measurements to determine actual contact geometry. The measurements were done with quenched and tempered steel. The initial results indicate that cracks are mostly formed in partial slip conditions, whereas fretting wear is more heavily involved in gross slip conditions. The initiation of a crack occurs near the edge of the contact in the slip direction, where the calculated cracking risk has its maximum value in partial slip conditions. The number of cracks increases as the displacement amplitude, i.e. friction force, increases in partial slip conditions. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

TC4合金微动疲劳损伤研究

研究了TC4合金在柱面-平面接触务件下的微动疲劳行为，分析了其微动疲劳损伤机制。结果表明：在试验务件下，微动区边缘的损伤特征以粘着磨损为主，而微动区中部则以磨粒磨损和接触疲劳为主。疲劳裂纹易于在微动区．特别是在蚀坑处萌生和扩展。促使微动疲劳裂纹萌生的因素：一是法向应力和切向摩擦力引起的材料表层塑性变形，二是微动磨损破坏了材料的表面完整性，造成了缺口应力集中效应。     

A new fretting fatigue testing machine design,utilizing rotating–bending principle approach

Fretting fatigue is a phenomenon which occurs when two parts are contacted to each other and one of those parts or both are subjected to cyclic load. Fretting decreases fatigue life of materials drastically by half or even more. Therefore, investigation of fretting fatigue life of materials is an important subject. Fretting fatigue tests are usually performed using universal hydraulic testing devices. In this work, a rotating bending apparatus for fretting fatigue test is introduced in which the cyclic load is provided by an adjustable eccentric load. The apparatus called RBFF machine which is the abbreviation of rotating bending fretting fatigue. The eccentric load is measured by load cell. The coefficient of friction and fretting load are measured by foil strain gauges using a Wheatstone bridge configuration. The performance of the machine is verified with doing a comparison between fatigue lives of a number of AL7075-T6 alloy samples on a Shimadzu rotating bending fatigue testing machine and RBFF. The results shows very close assent between the operations of the two testing rigs. The main privileges of RBFF are its simplicity with respect to universal devices, cheapness and, coefficient of friction (between pads and specimen) evaluation during the test. The RBFF also has the capability of being used for any other soft and hard metals. It can be advanced further for high and low temperature.     

Correlation between fretting and plain fatigue using fatigue damage gradient

Fretting fatigue is correlated with plain fatigue in order to develop a method to estimate fretting fatigue life from plain fatigue data. Fretting fatigue experiments as well as plain ones were conducted to obtain fatigue life data at various conditions. Finite element analyses were conducted to evaluate the Smith-Watson-Topper (SWT) fatigue damage parameter around crack initiation location. It is revealed that the SWT in fretting fatigue decays exponentially away from the surface. Moreover, a correlation function exists that relates the gradient of normalized SWT at the surface to the maximum SWT ratio of plain fatigue to fretting fatigue at the same life. It is demonstrated that equivalent SWT for fretting fatigue, which is determined from the correlation function, can be compared directly with plain fatigue data for estimation of fretting fatigue life.     

Life estimation of Ti-6Al-4V specimens subjected to fretting fatigue and effect of surface treatments

Suitability of different multi-axial parameters in predicting fretting fatigue life of Ti-6Al-4V specimens has been investigated. Ameliorating effect of surface treatments on fretting fatigue has been studied. In simple uni-axial/multi-axial fatigue tests, nucleation as well as propagation of cracks occur under the influence of identical stresses. Hence nucleation accounts for most of the total life. Fretting fatigue crack nucleation occurs due to very large contact stresses, effect of which is felt only close to the surface (due to steep gradients). Propagation mostly occurs due to lower stresses in the bulk of the material (negligible influence of contact tractions) and forms a significant portion of total life. Total life has to be taken as sum of initiation life calculated from different multi-axial fatigue parameters and propagation life from conventional fracture mechanics approach. Steep stress gradients necessitate the adoption of a statistics based approach to predict the crack initiation life, based on an assumed distribution of flaws. The quality of comparison between predicted and experimentally observed failure lives provides confidence in the notion that conventional fatigue life prediction tools can be used to assess fretting fatigue failure. Effect of surface treatments like shot-peening with or without additional surface coatings on total life of the specimen and on friction coefficient has been studied.     

Analysis of Fretting Fatigue of Cavitation Shotless Peened Ti–6Al–4V

Fretting fatigue behavior of cavitation shotless peened titanium alloy, Ti–6Al–4V coupons was investigated using finite element method and a critical plane-based multi-axial fatigue parameter. Cavitation shotless peening (CSP)-induced compressive residual stress, which was larger at the contact surface than its counterpart from the shot peening (SP). However, compressive residual stress decreased more sharply with distance from the contact surface in CSP than in SP. Analysis using a critical plane-based multi-axial fatigue parameter demonstrated that the crack initiation would occur inside the cavitation shotless peened specimen which matched with the experimental observations. On the other hand, crack initiation would occur on the contact surface in the shot peened specimen which again was in agreement with experiments. The analysis also showed that the crack propagation part of the total fretting fatigue life was longer in the shot peened specimen than in the cavitation shotless peened specimen while the crack initiation part was almost equal from both peening methods. Therefore, CSP could not improve the fretting fatigue life/strength as much as the SP did but it improved relative to the un-peened specimen.     

关于微动磨损与微动疲劳的研究

微动磨损与微动疲劳是２种主要的微动模式,造成的损伤在工业中相当普遍,并可能引发灾难性的后果。主要研究了们移幅度、压力和疲劳应力３个基本微动参数,并以获得的微动区域、微动图为基础,分析了微动磨损与微动疲劳的运行机制和破坏规律。为更好地了解微动磨损与微动疲劳之间的内在联系,进一步探讨了接触磨损与局部疲劳、局部疲劳与整体疲劳之间的竞争机制。     

Fretting fatigue in hydrogen gas

To clarify the effect of hydrogen gas on fretting fatigue strength of the materials, which supposed to be used for hydrogen utilization machines, fretting fatigue tests were conducted in hydrogen gas. It is important to take fretting fatigue into account in strength design, because many fatigue failure accidents have occurred at joints or contact parts between components. As a part of the experiments, an austenitic stainless steel was focused in this paper. The material was SUS 304. Fretting fatigue strength in hydrogen gas decreased compared with that in air. Tangential force coefficient increased in the reverse order of fretting fatigue strength. Therefore, one of the reasons of the decrease of fretting fatigue strength was that tangential force was different depending on the environment. Absorption of hydrogen occurred during fretting in hydrogen gas was detected. The absorption could be considered as one of the causes of the decrease of fretting fatigue strength, since fretting fatigue life of pre-charged specimen was decreased and also the crack propagation threshold of short fatigue crack was reduced by hydrogen charge.     

The effects of laser peening and shot peening on fretting fatigue in Ti-6Al-4V coupons

This paper describes testing of Ti-6Al-4V coupons in fretting fatigue and compares the effects of mechanical surface treatments on performance. Fretting fatigue tests were performed using a proving ring for fretting load, bridge-type fretting pads, and applied tension-tension cyclic fatigue stress. As-machined (AM), shot peened (SP), and laser peened (LP) coupons were evaluated, and data generated to compare residual stress, surface condition, lifetime, and fractographic detail encountered for each. Near-surface residual stress in SP and LP coupons was similar. The layer of compressive residual stress was far deeper in LP coupons than in SP coupons and, consequently, subsurface tensile residual stress was significantly greater in LP coupons than in SP coupons. SP coupons exhibited a rough surface and had the greatest volume of fretting-induced wear. LP coupons exhibited a wavy surface and had a small volume of wear localized at wave peaks. SP coupons had the greatest fretting fatigue lifetime, with significant improvement over AM coupons. Lifetimes of LP coupons were similar to those for SP coupons at high fatigue stress, but fell between AM and SP coupons at lower fatigue stress. Fractographic evaluation showed that fractures of AM samples were preceded by initiation of fretting-induced cracks, transition of a lead fretting crack to mode-I fatigue crack growth, and crack growth to failure. SP and LP samples exhibited behavior similar to AM samples at high fatigue stress, but in coupons tested at low stress the lead crack initiated subsurface, near the measured depth of maximum tensile residual stress, despite the presence of fretting-induced cracks. The level of fatigue stress above which lead cracks were initiated by fretting was higher for LP than for SP, and was predicted with good accuracy using an analysis based on linear elastic fracture mechanics, the fatigue crack growth threshold stress intensity factor range, and superposition of measured residual stress and applied fatigue stress.     

微动疲劳参数对钢丝微动疲劳磨损演化的影响*

微动疲劳易引起钢丝表面磨损和横截面积损失,进而造成钢丝断裂失效并缩短钢丝绳使用寿命。不同微动疲劳参数（接触载荷、疲劳载荷、钢丝直径和交叉角度）引起差异的钢丝微动疲劳磨损特性,故研究微动疲劳参数对钢丝微动疲劳磨损演化规律影响至关重要。基于摩擦学理论和Marc仿真软件构建钢丝微动疲劳磨损模型,探究接触载荷、疲劳载荷、交叉角度和钢丝直径对钢丝微动疲劳磨损演化的影响规律。结果表明：钢丝微动疲劳磨损体积主要与接触载荷和疲劳载荷有关;疲劳钢丝的磨损深度、磨损率及磨损体积随着接触载荷的增加而增大,且不同接触载荷下疲劳钢丝磨损体积均随着循环次数的增加而呈线性增加;随疲劳载荷幅值的增加,疲劳钢丝的磨损深度、磨损率及磨损体积均呈增加趋势;在不同疲劳载荷范围下疲劳钢丝的磨损体积均随着循环次数的增加而呈线性增加;当接触载荷、疲劳载荷及钢丝间摩擦因数相同时,不同交叉角度和不同加载钢丝直径下疲劳钢丝的磨损体积相同。