The effects of external loading on low displacement wear rates of unlubricated steels

Abstract

Whilst contact loading is known to affect wear, the general stress field is rarely considered. Steel fretting (and low amplitude reciprocating) wear contacts typically develop through a transient regime and wear by multiple mechanisms. It is expected that if these mechanisms were controlled by plasticity or fatigue, the wear rate would be altered by external stresses. Whether or not these stresses must be accounted for is an important consideration. This paper assesses the sensitivity of wear rate to external stresses, experimentally. An apparatus was designed to apply external loads to fretting wear contacts. The wear rates throughout the tests were insensitive to changes in external load, indicating that wear models need only model stresses due to contact loading, and external loads can be disregarded.