ELASTOPLASTIC FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF 2-D ROLLING-PLUS-SLIDING CONTACT WITH TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT BEARING STEEL MATERIAL PROPERTIES

A coupled thermo-mechanical finite-element model developed to study 2- D rolling-plus-sliding contact on a kinematically hardening substrate is described. Such a contact condition is simulated by repeatedly tran slating a thermo-mechanical load across the surface of the substrate. The substrate is modeled as a semi-infinite half-space represented by a 2-D finite-element mesh with appropriate boundary condition on the d isplacements and temperature gradients. Elastic-linear-kinematic-harde ning-plastic (ELKP) material constitutive relations are used to model the material behavior of 52100 bearing steel. Effects of frictional he ating and temperature-dependent material and thermo-physical propertie s on the substrate are studied. The stress and strain distributions de veloped are reported.