Numerical and finite element contact temperature analysis of real composite-steel surfaces in sliding contact

Numerical techniques have been developed and used to evaluate the contact t emperature distribution between real composite-steel surfaces in sliding co ntact, To characterise the contact temperature problem of composite materia ls new definitions for composite Peclet numbers have been introduced. In ca se of 'slow sliding' problems a stationary numerical technique was applied, whereas for 'intermediate and fast sliding' problems transient finite elem ent (FE) solutions were preferred. At first sliding contacts of a si ng le steel asperity over polyetheretherketone (PEEK) or carbon fibre (CF)/PEEK c omposite surfaces were modelled in order to study the contact temperature d evelopment on a microscopic level, It was followed by contact temperature r esults for real composite-steel sliding surfaces; the latter helped to prov ide information about the actual stress conditions, which are necessary to model the wear process of this pair of materials in future works, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.