Third Particle Ejection Effects on Wear with Quenched and Tempered Steel Fretting Contact

The design and life prediction of fretting wear-sensitive mechanical components remain a challenge. In the present work, the role of wear particle movements under conditions of axisymmetric loading of an annular flat-on-flat contact were investigated using self-mated quenched and tempered steel specimens. Total fretting wear significantly increased when loose wear particles were periodically removed from the interface, and this effect increased as a function of the sliding amplitude. Additionally, increased wear was measured when grooves perpendicular to the sliding direction were added to the interface. Increasing the rate of wear debris ejection leads to increased wear rate because naturally occurring entrapped third-body particles significantly reduce the wear. The shape of fretting loops and values of the average and maximum coefficient of friction remained unaffected by the removal of entrapped wear debris and by the introduction of the grooves.