Application of an energy wear approach to quantify fretting contact durability: Introduction of a wear energy capacity concept

A friction energy formalism is considered and adapted to formalize the fretting wear responses of adhesive wear and non-adhesive wear interfaces. It is shown that for non-adhesive wear tribocouples like hard coatings (TiN, TiC, etc.) the wear kinetics can be formalized using the accumulated friction dissipated energy. By contrast, adhesive wear contacts involving aluminium and titanium alloys display a critical dependance regarding the applied sliding amplitude. The wear kinetics of such systems is captured by considering a sliding reduced energy wear formulation. A combined composite energy wear formulation is then introduced to formalize the fretting wear response whatever the tribocouple behaviour. It is shown that a local approach, focusing on wear depth analysis, is required to predict interface durability. A FEM investigation demonstrates that the wear depth kinetics can be predicted by considering the accumulated energy density. It concludes that interface durability can be related to a single energy density capacity variable (χ) defined as the maximum accumulated energy density which can be dissipated in the interface before contact failure.     

On the influence of test parameters on friction and wear of ceramics in oscillating sliding contacts

The tribological behaviour of different ceramics in contact with steel was studied for the case of oscillating sliding motion with a ball-on-disc apparatus. The influence of several test condition parameters was investigated by a systematic variation of the stroke, frequency, and normal load at room temperature in laboratory air at different levels of relative humidity. Each of the four parameters was varied in three stages. While the coefficient of friction was only mildly influenced by the operational variables, the coefficient of wear showed great variations and depended strongly on the humidity of the surrounding air. The effect of the operational variables and of the humidity on friction and wear varied for the different materials under investigation.     

The evolution of the surface layers on metals in sliding friction

The methods of speckle-interferometry, electron, optic, and atom-force microscopy were used to study the structure and regularities of deformation of surface layers on metals and alloys in friction. The causes of deformation localization are analyzed. An explanation of the strong wear resistance of Hadfield steel is proposed using data on the evolution of the surface layer structure.     

Metallic sliding friction under boundary lubricated conditions: Investigation of the influence of lubricant at the start of sliding

Experiments are described in which a hard half-wedge, representing a scaled up model asperity, was indented into the horizontal surface of a relatively soft specimen with the specimen then moved in a direction parallel to its surface and normal to the wedge edge. Forces measured at the wedge-specimen interface are used to investigate the state of lubrication at the interface at all stages of the experiment, i.e. from initial indentation to final steady-state wave formation. The results are used to offer possible explanations for the nature of boundary lubrication and of stick-slip motion.     

Effect of temperature on the wear of an electroless nickel coating under lubricated reciprocating sliding conditions

The effect of temperature on the wear of as-deposited electroless Ni-P coating under lubricated reciprocating sliding conditions has been investigated using the ball-on-block test method. It was shown that the temperature increase from 25 to 100°C reduces the lubricated wear of EN coatings, especially at high loads. The wear mechanism has also changed as the temperature rises from 25 to 100°C. X-ray mapping and EDS analyses have shown that there are more sulfur and phosphorus on the wear track at high temperature which may be responsible for reduced friction and the wear of the coating.Yugang Liu is a graduate student and K.N. Tandon is an Associate Professor at Metallurgical Science Laboratory, Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Manitoba.     

Investigation of the effect of additives to lubricant Litol-24 on abrasive wearing of steel under sliding friction

The structure of a three-ball friction machine developed for testing lubricants is described and its advantages over the four-ball one in tests with sliding friction are shown. Using the developed machine and the testing procedure, a lubricant grease Litol-24 was subjected to testing with additions of solid lubricants (graphite powder and MoS₂) and organic dopes containing P, Cl, S, and O. According to results of investigation of their lubricity in conditions of boundary friction with abrasives, the optimal formulations of lubricants have been determined.     

Tribocarbonisation of a synthetic engine oil in lubricated piston ring/cylinder bore sliding contact and its relation to friction and wear

Tribocarbonisation of a fully formulated synthetic engine oil, an API SJ/SAE 5W‐30 containing an organic molybdenum friction modifier, was investigated in an Optimal SRV® tribotester, with a Mo‐coated piston ring and a cast iron cylinder bore tribopair in lubricated sliding contact and under stepwise heating conditions. The friction characteristics were determined by the friction coefficient curve which showed that two local minimum values occurred as the temperature increased stepwise. The local minimum friction coefficient at the lower temperature of 290°C was the result of the formation of MoS₂ and MoO₃, tribochemically generated by MoDTC and ZDTP. For the other local minimum friction coefficient at the higher temperature of 400°C, FT‐IR and Raman spectroscopic examinations of the worn tracks on the cylinder bore samples indicated that tribopyrolysis of the oil components and simultaneous polycondensation into carbonaceous species had occurred. Detailed Raman analyses showed that the carbonaceous species included a disordered phase and an ordered phase characterised, respectively, by the D‐line (1370 cm⁻¹) and G‐line (1580 cm⁻¹). The peak positions and sizes of the graphite crystallites involved varied according to temperature, and were related to the specific points on the friction coefficient versus temperature curve. Tribochemistry could enhance pyrolysis of the oil and facilitate the production of the carbonaceous species and growth of the graphite crystallites.     

Development of a contact compliance method to detect the crack propagation under fretting

Partial slip fretting conditions are classically known to favor contact crack nucleation and crack propagation. Considered as a plague for modern industries, numerous theoretical researches have been conducted during the past two decades to predict such fretting damage. However, a review of last few years critically outlines the need of precise and in-situ experiments to qualify and quantify the given models. To palliate such aspect, an original approach which consists in following the contact stiffness evolution as an indicator of the fretting cracking phenomena, has been developed. Applied for an aluminium/steel contact, it demonstrates that the incipient crack propagation is related to a discontinuous decrease of the contact stiffness. Based on this online analysis, a fretting cracking endurance parameter has been extrapolated to develop fast and low cost fretting cracking endurance chart. A FEM analysis has been performed in an attempt to formalize the given experiments.     

A test method to investigate the tribological behaviour of friction materials under ultrasonic fretting conditions

To investigate and understand the tribological behaviour of high-frequency tribosystems such as ultrasonic motors, a specific test method is necessary. This work reports on the construction of a test machine to evaluate the friction and wear behaviour of friction materials under ultrasonic fretting conditions, as well as giving some representative experimental results. Hard/soft (steel/polymer) and hard/hard (steel/alumina, alumina/alumina) couples were studied with respect to their application as contact materials in ultrasonic motors. Investigation of friction behaviour at high frequencies showed that friction-induced vibrations lead to friction forces of much lower magnitude than predicted by quasistationary friction coefficients obtained for sliding friction. The wear behaviour is characterised by abrasive, adhesive, fatigue and oxidative mechanisms, depending on the mating materials. For polymeric friction materials, the influence of fibre reinforcement and the incorporation of PTFE as a solid lubricant were evaluated. The presence of PTFE resulted in a strong improvement of both friction and wear behaviour.     

On the application of a micromechanical small fatigue crack growth model to predict fretting fatigue life in AA7075-T6 under spherical contact

This work presents a method for assessing the fretting fatigue life by estimating the fatigue crack growth rate from the regime of microcracks to the final failure, which is achieved using a two-threshold small fatigue crack growth model. The propagation thresholds are associated with the interaction of the "monotonic plastic zone" and the "cyclic plastic zone" with the microstructure of the material. The predicted fatigue life and the estimated non-propagating cracks agree very well with the experimental fretting fatigue tests with spherical contact in 7075-T6 aluminium alloy.