ON THE INDENTATION OF A TRANSVERSELY ISOTROPIC HALF-SPACE WITH APPLICATION TO THIN SOLID LUBRICANT FILMS

In this investigation, the contact between a model rigid ellipsoidal a sperity and the surface of an oriented solid lubricant film has been s imulated using an analysis developed previously for contact of a trans versely isotropic half-space. In this case, unlike most previous work, the plane of isotropy is oriented normal to the plane of contact, ins tead of parallel. Under this condition, the contact patch is of a gene ral elliptical form, depending on the shape and orientation of the mod el asperity and on the elastic constants of the solid lubricants. Seve ral applicable material compositions are examined using the analysis, and the influence of asperity shape and elastic constants in relation to friction and potential design of solid lubricant formulations is di scussed.