A STUDY ON THE QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE SEIZURE BEHAVIOR OF STEELS AT LOW-TEMPERATURE IN A VACUUM

A systematic study on the seizure properties of several common steels was carried out at temperatures from 300K to 16K in a vacuum. The resu lts indicated that seizure, in the form of severe cold weld, occurred after the contacting area had grown to a certain critical value. The l ogarithm of this critical contacting area has a linear relationship wi th inverse experimental temperature. The influence of a variety of fri ction factors, such as temperature, pressure and friction pair, on the seizure behavior was quantified by a mathematical model. It was found that the time for the occurrence of seizure increased with a decrease of temperature due to the reduction of adhesion between the friction interfaces. A critical temperature was proposed to predict the possibi lity of seizure. According to the friction behavior at low temperature in a vacuum environment, the seizure property of steels at room tempe rature is also discussed from the point of view of critical contacting area.