Effect of contact pressure on fretting fatigue of austenitic stainless steel

The effect of contact pressure on fretting fatigue in solution-treated austenitic stainless steel was studied. With an increase in contact pressure, fretting fatigue life was almost unchanged at low contact pressures, however it decreased drastically at high contact pressures. At low contact pressures, stress concentration due to fretting damage occurred at the middle portion of the fretted area and the main crack responsible for failure was initiated there. At high contact pressures, concavity was formed at the fretted area without accompanying heavy wear. The main crack was initiated at the outer edge corner of the concavity which probably acted as a notch. Plain fatigue prior to the fretting fatigue test increased the fretting fatigue life at high contact pressures since the concavity formation was suppressed by the cyclic strain hardening.