EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY BY MEANS OF THIN-LAYER ACTIVATION OF THE HUMIDITY INFLUENCE ON THE FRETTING WEAR OF STEEL SURFACES

Wear processes in general are influenced by the surrounding atmosphere , humidity especially. For fretting wear several authors have examined the influence of humidity on the wear scar morphology, the wear volum e and the composition of the wear debris. No agreement between the dif ferent results has been found, yet. In the present study, the influenc e of the humidity in the ambient air on the fretting process is examin ed. The friction, the wear volume and material transfer are measured f or the fretting of a bearing steel ball against a flat steel specimen under gross-slip regime, in running-in as well as steady state conditi ons. The wear and material transfer are quantitatively measured with T hin Layer Activation method. It has been observed that high ambient hu midity inhibits adhesion and accompanying material transfer. As a resu lt, high humidity has a beneficial influence on fretting wear, in oppo sition to generally accepted hypothesis. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A . All rights reserved.