Surface morphology in engineering applications: Influence of roughness on sliding and wear in dry fretting

Influence of initial surface roughness on friction and wear processes under fretting conditions was investigated experimentally. Rough surfaces (Ra=0.15-2.52 μm) were prepared on two materials: carbon alloy (AISI 1034) and titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V). Strong influence of initial surface roughness on friction and wear processes is reported for both tested materials. Lower coefficient of friction and increase in wear rate was observed for rough surfaces. Wear activation energy is increasing for smoother surfaces. Lower initial roughness of surface subjected to gross slip fretting can delay activation of wear process and reduce wear rate; however, it can slightly increase the coefficient of friction.     

The tribological performance of DLC coatings under oil-lubricated fretting conditions

Whether or not the process of fretting occurs is to a large extent dependent on the coefficient of friction, because the coefficient of friction directly affects the amount of shear stress. As a result, the key factor when it comes to reducing the amount of fretting damage is to reduce the coefficient of friction. Various surface coatings, and especially hard, diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings, are known to be able to produce surfaces with a low level of friction. Despite some such attempts in the past, which did not result in major improvements, the developments and improvements in DLC coatings in recent years suggest the need for a re-evaluation of these coatings for fretting applications. Another way to reduce the amount of friction in mechanical components is to apply lubricants, and recent studies on the lubrication of DLC coatings suggest that this combination could be very successful in preventing failures under boundary-lubrication conditions. Therefore, in this work we present the results of friction and wear measurements from three types of fretting contacts: steel/steel, steel/DLC and DLC/DLC. Boundary oil-lubrication conditions were investigated and a wide range of displacement amplitudes, i.e., from 25 to 500 μm, were selected to assess the fretting and sliding behaviours. The results show a significant difference between the fretting and sliding regimes. In the fretting regime, the DLC-containing contacts, and especially the self-mated DLC/DLC contacts, performed much better than the steel/steel contacts, and significantly reduced both the wear (a 3–10 times reduction with steel/DLC and DLC/DLC) and the friction (a more-than-two-times reduction with DLC/DLC). In the sliding regime, the lubrication effects governed the tribological performance, making the results for all three material combinations very similar.     

A fast methodology to quantify electrical-contact behaviour under fretting loading conditions

Fretting wear in electrical contacts is a serious problem in many applications, especially in the automotive industry, but also in other machines exposed to vibration. It can introduce serious electrical problems, mainly the high electrical resistance of connectors, and lead to electrical installation malfunctions. This has led to the development of numerous coating systems consisting of pure metallic materials, noble and non-noble, doped as well as soft coatings. The problem of selecting optimal surface treatment for a particular application remains.To reproduce the environmental conditions of a car engine, a fretting-test machine has been specially designed and built. Using this apparatus, most of the physical conditions, such as relative humidity, temperature, frequency, relative displacement and normal force, can be precisely controlled and monitored. A fast methodology based on incremental variation of the applied displacement amplitude has been used to quantify electrical-contact endurance. Using this approach, one soft, noble coating system and one bulk material system have been studied to determine the influence of contact loading and environmental factors on their performance. Particular attention is devoted to the sliding condition during fretting and its implications for electrical-contact performance.     

Surface lay effect on rough friction in roller contact

Surface lay describes the direction of the predominant surface pattern. A properly designed surface texture configuration has been recognised as a vital issue affecting lubrication and sliding in machinery applications in the literature. Gaining understanding of this tribological phenomenon is no doubt beneficial in facilitating the production of more efficient machine parts and thus reduces production cost. This paper describes an experimental method to investigate the effect of surface lay on lubricated rolling/sliding of ground roller surfaces. By using the rough friction test rig, different surface lay contacts can be simulated and the friction can be measured. Friction behaviour was interpreted in terms of Stribeck curves (friction coefficient as the function of Hersey parameter [ην/p]). Results show that an optimal contact lay angle that provides a minimum friction value is achievable through rig testing. The relative sliding speed direction has a symmetrical effect on friction at the same lay orientation; for sliding speed angles less than about 80°, the larger the angle, the lower the friction, and vice versa.     

Effect of ZDDP on friction in fretting contacts

The effect of ZDDP on fretting wear was investigated in a ball on flat machine. The results confirm previous work that anti-wear agents may reduce friction and wear in fretting contacts. It was further found that temperature, adsorption time, base oil polarity as well as the presence of other surface active additives in the oil were all important parameters affecting the ability of ZDDP to protect the surfaces against fretting wear.     

Prediction of the fretting fatigue resistance of various surface-modification layers on 1045 steel: the role of fretting maps

In this work, fretting maps of various surface modifications were established based on the friction logs of fretting experiments. The fretting fatigue resistance of the coatings was analyzed according to the features of the fretting maps of the coatings. The results showed clearly that fretting maps of materials are effective tools to predict the fretting fatigue properties of substrates and surface-modification coatings. It was also demonstrated that the fretting fatigue resistance of a 1045 steel substrate could be improved to different extents through surface modification. The fretting fatigue resistance of solid lubricating coatings was the best and the tendency for initiation and propagation of cracks in the substrate material could also be restrained by depositing hard coatings.     

Modeling of fretting wear evolution in rough circular contacts in partial slip

This paper presents a numerical model that maps the evolution of contact pressure and surface profile of Hertzian rough contacting bodies in fretting wear under partial slip conditions. The model was used to determine the sliding distance of the contacting surface asperities for one cycle of tangential load. The contact pressure and sliding distance were used with Archard's wear law to determine local wear at each surface asperity. Subsequently, the contact surface profile was updated due to wear. The approach developed in this study allows for implementation of simulated and/or measured real rough surfaces and study the effects of various statistical surface properties on fretting wear. The results from this investigation indicate that an elastic–perfectly plastic material model is superior to a completely elastic material model. Surface roughness of even small magnitudes is a major factor in wear calculations and cannot be neglected.     

Simulational study of electrical contact degradation under fretting corrosion

The simulation model of electrical contact resistance variation under various oxide fractions is constructed considering thermal-electrical coupled effects. The copper oxide is allocated on the contact area with various fractions by random distribution technique with finite element method. The contact degradations of experimental and analytical results are compared. The quantitative relation between insulation fraction and electrical resistance increment is analyzed.     

Oil film behavior under minute vibrating conditions in EHL point contacts

The oil film thickness was measured under conditions of minute vibrations using an elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) ball-on-disk test rig. Poly-alpha-olefin (PAO) oil was used as the lubricant under conditions of pure sliding where only the ball specimen was minutely vibrated. It was found that an oil film formed when the amplitude ratio was greater than 1.6. Moreover, when conditions were changed to the maximum vibrating speed, oil viscosity, and maximum contact pressure, the critical amplitude ratio at which the oil film began to form remained at 1.6. Consequently, calculated results showed that the oil film was formed when the amplitude ratio was π/2 (nearly equal to 1.6), which closely agreed with our test results.     

Friction behavior of quenched and tempered steel in partial and gross slip conditions in fretting point contact

Tangential traction caused by friction in contacting surfaces is a major factor in fretting fatigue that increases stress levels and leads to a reduction in fatigue life. Friction in fretting contact was studied in partial, mixed and gross slip conditions on quenched and tempered steel. Measurements were made with sphere-on-plane contact geometry for polished and ground surfaces. Friction was evaluated from on-line energy ratio and, after the tests, from wear marks. A maximum friction coefficient of over 1.0 was measured at mixed slip zone with polished surfaces, whereas ground surfaces promote lower values in similar operating conditions. The friction coefficient dependence on load cycles and loading frequency is also presented and briefly discussed. The friction data and understanding thus gained is to be used for evaluation of crack initiation with the numerical fretting fatigue model.     

The influence of surface roughness and the contact pressure distribution on friction in rolling/sliding contacts

A numerical contact model is used to study the influence of surface roughness and the pressure distribution on the frictional behaviour in rolling/sliding contacts. Double-crowned roller surfaces are measured and used as input for the contact analysis. The contact pressure distribution is calculated for dry static contacts and the results are compared with friction measurements in a lubricated rolling/sliding contact made with a rough friction test rig. The mean pressure is suggested as a parameter that can be used to predict the influence of surface roughness on the friction coefficient in such contacts. The results show two important properties of the friction coefficient for the friction regime studied in this paper: (1) there is a linear decrease in friction coefficient as a function of the slide-to-roll ratio, and (2) the friction coefficient increases linearly with increasing mean contact pressure up to a maximum limit above which the friction coefficient is constant. The absolute deviation of experimental results from the derived theory is for most cases within 0.005.     

A numerical model of friction between rough surfaces

This paper describes a computational method to calculate the friction force between two rough surfaces. In the model used, friction results from forces developed during elastic deformation and shear resistance of adhesive junctions at the contact areas. Contacts occur between asperities and have arbitrary orientations with respect to the surfaces. The size and slope of each contact area depend on external loads, mechanical properties and topographies of surfaces. Contact force distribution is computed by iterating the relationship between contact parameters, external loads, and surface topographies until the sum of normal components of contact forces equals the normal load. The corresponding sum of tangential components of contact forces constitutes the friction force. To calculate elastic deformation in three dimensions, we use the method of influence coefficients and its adaptation to shear forces to account for sliding friction. Analysis presented in Appendix A gives approximate limits within which influence coefficients developed for flat elastic half-space can apply to rough surfaces. Use of the method of residual correction and a successive grid refinement helped rectify the periodicity error introduced by the FFT technique that was used to solve for asperity pressures. The proposed method, when applied to the classical problem of a sphere on a half-space as a benchmark, showed good agreement with previous results. Calculations show how friction changes with surface roughness and also demonstrate the method's efficiency.     

Effect of start-up schemes and amplitude of tangential motion on friction behavior in fretting point contact

The friction coefficient is an important factor in fretting fatigue. The frictional behavior of quenched and tempered steel 34CrNiMo6 was studied in smooth fretting point contact with measurements at partial and gross slip conditions. The effect of the start-up scheme is studied by altering the way the displacement amplitude is developed to the target value. This only has a minor effect on the maximum friction coefficient but it does alter the frictional behavior. The friction coefficient increases as tangential displacement amplitude is increased and it has a maximum value of 1.5-1.6 at the transition to gross sliding.     

Comparison of different theoretical models for flash temperature calculation under fretting conditions

The wear and friction properties of tribological interfaces depend significantly on the contact temperature, and its determination is therefore important for each tribological application. Temperature calculation methods available in the literature use quite different physical, dynamic and geometrical assumptions. Furthermore, the assumptions necessary for temperature calculations also include various interfacial properties, which are usually unknown due to many difficulties in their exact determination. It is therefore important to know the possible differences between several frequently used models for flash temperature calculation and also the effect of these pre-assumed input parameters. In the present work the effects of the tribological interface between silicon nitride and steel under dry and boundary lubricated fretting conditions were studied. Effects of the change of thermal properties, as well as the coefficient of friction and the real contact area on the calculated flash temperature are presented. Ten different theoretical models were selected for the purposes of this investigation. The results show crucial differences between the various models and the significant importance of the tribological interface properties on the calculated temperatures. Based on these calculations, supported by experimental evidence, it is clear that their severe limitations must be considered and care in the interpretation of the results taken when such models are used.     

The influence of current load on fretting of electrical contacts

The fretting corrosion behavior of tin coated brass contacts is studied at various current loads (1, 2 and 3 A). The typical characteristics of the change in contact resistance with fretting cycles are explained. The fretted surface is examined using scanning electron microscope, laser scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive analysis of X-rays to assess the surface morphology, extent of fretting damage, extent of oxidation, surface profile and elemental distribution across the contact zone. The degradation of contacts at high and low values of current is explained with reference to the thermal and electrical phenomena occurring at the contact interface. The results showed that irrespective of the current loads under study, the contact resistance is maintained at 1.0±0.02 Ω where the oxide debris formation and the electrical breakdown of oxide particles competed with each other maintaining the equilibrium. The number of cycles to failure of the contacts is delayed at lower current. The fretting corrosion degradation of tin coated contacts occurs much faster at higher currents as it generates more accumulation of oxide wear debris at the contact zone. The observed surface morphology and the tin profile of the fretted surface are in agreement with the experimental results.     

The influence of surface roughness on friction and wear of machine element coatings

The use of low friction coatings like amorphous carbon or metal-doped carbon coatings on machine elements is constantly increasing. Most often, a surface treatment, e.g. grinding and polishing or honing, is required for optimal performance of the coated machine element. This can be time consuming and costly.In this study, the effect of surface roughness on friction and sliding wear of two different coatings, one tungsten containing and one chromium containing coating, were examined using a ball-on-disc test. Ball bearing steel plates were grinded to different surface roughnesses and coated with the two different coatings.The friction was found to depend on surface roughness where the rougher surfaces gave higher friction coefficients. The wear rate for the a-C:W coating was found to be independent of the roughness, whereas the roughness had a strong influence on the wear rate for the a-C:Cr coating. This could partly be explained by a difference in wear mechanism, where fatigue wear was observed for the a-C:Cr coating but not for the a-C:W coating.     

Study of seizure of coated and treated titanium alloy under fretting conditions

Titanium alloys are well known to present poor sliding behaviour and high wear values. Various coatings (soft thick coatings and thin hard coatings) and treatments have been tested to prevent such an occurrence under fretting conditions at high frequency of displacement (100 Hz). An original test apparatus, using an open-loop system, has been performed to directly display the phenomenon of seizure. No seizure was recorded at low load (6 N), while, at higher load (10 N), all samples undergo a more or less early seizure. The total sliding distance D₀ proved to be a pertinent parameter to study the seizure resistance. Furthermore, the results highlight that D₀ is linked to the total energy dissipated in the contact, E_dt, and reveal two distinct behaviours at low load, which suggest two distinct dissipating mechanisms of energy. The first trend can be connected with the plastic deformation and the trapping process of debris within the contact zone occurring on soft coatings. The second trend can be related to the higher debris ejection observed on hard samples. So, soft thick coating satisfies most of the chosen criteria except those of wear. In contrast, thin and hard coatings are not sufficient to totally protect the substrate but they are already able to efficiently reduce wear.     

Third body effects on friction and wear during fretting of steel contacts

Fretting wear proceeds through particle detachment from the contacting surfaces which, while trapped in the contact zone, can affect the frictional and wear response. Ball-on-flat fretting experiments were carried out between steel specimens under gross slip regime. A transition in the coefficient of friction was linked to a critical contact pressure. The microstructure and chemical composition of the third body evolve with the applied pressure. The evolution of the friction coefficient is strongly dependent on the third body properties. The wear is controlled by the applied load and thus the real contact area within the wear track.     

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.     

Influence of coefficient of friction on fretting fatigue crack nucleation prediction

The role of coefficient of friction (COF) on fretting fatigue damage prediction is studied using an elastic/plastic finite element analysis (FEA) of an experimental fretting fatigue test. At a scale on the order of tens of microns, the COF has a large impact on fretting fatigue damage prediction. By using a higher COF than that determined from conventional gross sliding tests, along with critical plane multiaxial fatigue damage models, the life and experimentally observed damage at this scale appear to be better predicted. Potential origins of this higher effective COF are discussed.