Some observations on the CLNA model in fretting fatigue

Using the Atzori–Lazzarin criterion, the author has recently proposed a unified model for Fretting Fatigue denominated Crack-Like Notch Analogue—CLNA model, considering only two possible behaviours: either “crack-like” or “large blunt notch”. In a general FF condition, the former condition is treated with a single contact problem corresponding to the MIT Crack Analogue (CA) improved in some details also by the author. The latter, with a simple peak stress condition, i.e. a simple Notch Analogue model, simply stating that below the fatigue limit, infinite life is predicted for any size of contact. In the typical condition of constant normal load and in phase oscillating tangential and bulk loads, both limiting conditions are immediately written, and the CLNA model permits to collapse the effect of the contact loads on a single closed form equation (differently from many other models which do not permit this flexibility). For not too large contact areas (“crack-like” contact) no dependence at all on geometry is predicted, but only on 3 load factors (bulk stress, tangential load and average pressure) and size of the contact. Only in the “large blunt notch” region occurring typically only at very large sizes of contact does size-effect disappear, but the dependence on all other factors including geometry remains. The model compares favourably with some experimental results in the literature. In this paper, some aspects of the CLNA model are further elucidated.     

Characterization of fretting fatigue damage by SEM analysis

Since the earliest studies of fretting fatigue were initiated surface damage and debris produced during the process have been of particular concern. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) has proven to be a useful tool in the analysis of fretting damage mechanisms and their relationship to the degradation of fatigue properties. Results of analysis performed on fatigue specimens which have undergone simultaneous fretting damage and fatigue are presented.The results show that irreparable damage was not produced during the first fatigue cycles. Damage also was classified as initial or advanced by characteristic debris and surface appearance. Fretting damage produced at high fatigue stress was found to be similar in appearance to damage produced at low fatigue stress. Details of the damage and its relationship to the fretting process are discussed in the paper in some depth.     

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.     

A literature review of palliatives for fretting fatigue

Under cyclic stress conditions contacting components can suffer differential strain which may result in reduced fatigue life; such a phenomenon is termed fretting fatigue. This review shows that the palliative treatments advanced are superficially contradictory. However, examination shows that in reality the success of a palliative is dependent upon the specific application. Assessing treatments against existing theory shows that the contradictions can be explained in a qualitative manner; the detailed behaviour is strongly dependent upon the stress fields arising from both the contact and the relative moment. More work is required to quantify such effects and the detailed way in which palliatives work. Nevertheless it is possible to divide fretting fatigue situations into groups where particular palliatives may be of benefit. Hence potentially useful treatments have been tabulated together with their probable route for providing alleviation, so that means of amelioration can be selected.     

Propagation in fretting fatigue from a surface defect

This paper analyses the growth of cracks in fretting fatigue from an initial flaw at the surface. Different crack growth laws are used in order to take into consideration the particular behaviour of short cracks. This methodology is applied to estimate life in various fretting fatigue tests with spherical contact characterized by two different geometries. The material used in the experiments is Al7075. The two geometries present significant differences in the evolution of the stresses, crack growth, etc. which are discussed. The approaches used to model short crack growth give different results, some of them being in good agreement with the experiments.     

Subsurface damage development during fretting fatigue of high strength steel

The results of fretting fatigue experiments performed on two high-strength structural steels, PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel and quenched and tempered 4340 steel, are evaluated. Observations regarding the subsurface deformation and cracking behavior of the steels are compared and contrasted. It was found that the fretting stresses influenced early crack growth to a greater depth in PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel than in 4340 steel. In addition, experiments on PH 13-8 Mo led to the development of a region below the fretting scar that underwent a microstructural transformation, while experiments on 4340 steel did not. Likely reasons for this discrepancy are suggested. Differences in the formation of oxide layers and the occurrence of adhesion between the two materials are also discussed.     

Mechanics of fretting fatigue tests

A popular fretting fatigue test, in which oscillating tension is applied in phase with the fretting force, is analysed. The configuration is a generalization of the well-known Mindlin contact problem, and it is shown that the addition of bulk tension has a substantial effect on the stick-slip geometry and the shear traction at the interface. The largest tension induced, which is thought to be responsible for the initiation of fatigue cracks, is also slightly increased.     

Effects of environment on fretting fatigue

Fretting fatigue tests of a carbon steel and an aluminum alloy were carried out in various environments and the effects of oxygen and water vapor were investigated by tangential force measurements, the initiation and propagation of cracks and hardness and structural changes of the damaged surface layer. With carbon steel the effect of water vapor is negligible but oxygen has a deleterious effect on the initiation and propagation of fretting fatigue cracks. However, with an aluminum alloy the effect of oxygen is small but water vapor accelerates the initiation and propagation of cracks. Environmental effects are more dominant than the stress conditions with an aluminum alloy; material softening and structural change of the surface layer occur.     

Crack propagation behaviour in fretting fatigue

Fretting fatigue and normal, or unfretting, fatigue tests of a stainless steel SUS304L and an aluminium alloy A2024-T3 were carried out to investigate the effects of the contact pressure and the stress ratio on the crack propagation behaviour. The crack propagation behaviour was represented by the crack propagation rate da/dNversus the crack length a or the stress intensity factors ΔK_eff and K_max In fretting fatigue, crack propagation was divided into two stages, namely S_I and S_II. The value of da/dN in the S_I stage was very high, even under a stress intensity factor less than the threshold for normal fatigue, and decreased gradually with crack growth because of crack closure and the decreasing fretting effect. The decrease in da/dN was marked in the case of high contact pressure and low stress ratio such as when R = −0.33, where R denotes the minimum stress divided by the maximum stress. During fretting fatigue crack closure occurred at an oblique short crack in the early stages of crack propagation in both the SUS304L steel and the A2024-T3 alloy; it also occurred at the oblique cracked surface of the shear lips formed in the A2024-T3 alloy during crack growth. However, in the S_II stage, which followed the S_I stage, da/dN increased with crack growth as for normal fatigue.     

Initiation and propagation of fretting fatigue cracks

Fretting fatigue tests of a carbon steel were carried out. Fatigue cracks were measured by means of electrical resistance and observed with a scanning electron microscope. The mechanism of fretting fatigue failure is discussed from the experimental results. Small fatigue cracks are initiated early in life and some grow to be propagating cracks. Cracks grow to a given depth by tangential stress combined with repeated stress and then propagate with repeated stress alone, causing a knee point in the propagation curve. Fretting fatigue damage is saturated in the first 20–25 % of life which coincides with the knee point. The condition of non-propagating cracks is also known.     

Fundamental investigations of electrical conductor fretting fatigue

Fretting is known to be the main factor leading to conductor individual wire breaks under aeolian vibration in the vicinity of a clamp. In this paper, previous studies on overhead electrical conductor bending fatigue are summarized. Results obtained with several conductor types and clamps are compared. A general fretting analysis as well as testing procedure are suggested. Influence of the main mechanical parameters on the occurrence of several types of degradation processes is discussed.     

Modeling of geometry effects in fretting fatigue

The stress field that results from two bodies in contact is an important aspect that governs the fretting fatigue behavior of materials. Applied loads as well as contact geometries influence the contact stresses. The profile of an indenter and the boundary conditions provide sufficient information from which the surface tractions and the corresponding subsurface stresses have been calculated in a semi-infinite halfspace using singular integral equations. In this investigation, a numerical subroutine was developed to calculate the surface tractions and the corresponding surface and subsurface stresses of an arbitrary finite thickness infinite plate subjected to loading through a random indenter. The results from the detailed stress analysis of the contact region are required by both an initiation and fracture mechanics approach. While initiation criteria involving stress gradient fields, such as sharp notches and edges of contact in fretting fatigue, are not well established or agreed upon, stress intensity factor calculations using tools such as weight functions are more reliable. The stress intensity analysis, which is used to determine whether an initiated crack will continue to grow if it is above the threshold, depends on many variables in the stress analysis such as pad and specimen geometry, loading configuration and friction coefficient. The contact stress analysis has been used to determine equivalent stress parameters that are related to the initiation of a crack. Similarly the numerical subroutine for the contact stresses is used in conjunction with the stress intensity analysis to determine the influence of the geometry, loading configuration and friction coefficient on the stress intensity factor. Results from high-cycle fretting fatigue experiments are used to determine the threshold stress intensity factor for a given configuration. The combination of the numerical and experimental analysis is then used to develop a tool for high-cycle fretting fatigue based on a threshold approach involving a go–no go criterion.     

The mechanism of fretting fatigue in metals

To ensure the reliable performance of metals and alloys in mechanisms operating under conditions of fretting fatigue, it is necessary to study the macromechanisms and micromechanisms of failure under such conditions. The development of a physical model of fretting fatigue will contribute to the design technology required to produce fatigue-resistant machine components.     

Radial fretting fatigue damage of surface coatings

Radial fretting tests with a 52100 steel ball-on-flat contact have been carried out under different normal loads. TiN, MoS₂ and TiN+MoS₂ coatings on a 1045 steel flat were examined. The normal loads amplitude used were 200, 400 and 800 N at speeds of 12 and 1.2 mm/min. Dynamic analysis in combination with microscopic examinations by SEM and EDX have been performed. It was observed that the vertical stiffness increased with the increase of loading speed and number of cycles. The metallographic examinations showed that little damage was observed for the MoS₂ coating, which exhibited excellent radial fretting fatigue resistance. For the TiN coating, micro-cracks appeared at the lower load while delamination occurred at the higher load. For the TiN+MoS₂ composite coating, the vertical stiffness increased but accompanied by some micro-cracks. As a result of the study, the radial fretting test is proposed as one possible new method to evaluate coating life.     

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.     

Modelling of fretting fatigue in a fracture-mechanics framework

The use of fracture mechanics as an alternative to (Cauchy) stress-based fatigue criteria is illustrated in this paper, using the “crack analogue” concept to deal with crack initiation in a fracture mechanics framework. A very simple model, based entirely on independently derived parameters, is shown to be able to capture the qualitative effects of the normal and tangential loads of fretting-fatigue performance. The accuracy of the total life predictions is also satisfactory. Examples of how to account for residual stresses and size effect with such a model are discussed.     

Scanning electron microscope analysis of fretting fatigue damage

Scanning electron microscope examinations of surfaces damaged by fretting fatigue were performed to establish variations in microstructural and environmental effects on the fretting fatigue process of ferrite/pearlite and martensite microstructures of a $\text{.40}\text{.50}$ carbon steel. The observations suggest differences in fretting mechanisms in laboratory air and “vacuum” conditions as well as differences due to surface hardness.     

Fretting fatigue strength estimation considering the fretting wear process

In fretting fatigue process the wear of contact surfaces near contact edges occur in accordance with the reciprocal micro-slippages on these contact surfaces. These fretting wear change the contact pressure near the contact edges. To estimate the fretting fatigue strength and life it is indispensable to analyze the accurate contact pressure distributions near the contact edges in each fretting fatigue process.So, in this paper we present the estimation methods of fretting wear process and fretting fatigue life using this wear process. Firstly the fretting-wear process was estimated using contact pressure and relative slippage as follows:

W=K×P×S,