Development of a model for the prediction of the fretting fatigue regimes

The parameters that govern the life of metallic materials under conditions of fretting fatigue may be divided into two broad categories. The first cat egory concerns the material properties (e.g., yield strength, elastic modul us, and surface roughness) while the second concerns the externally imposed loading conditions and contact geometry. The two in-contact materials may either stick, slip, or stick-slip (i.e., there is a slip and a stick region on their interface) against each other. It has been shown that the fatigue life reduction is highest under partial slip. The objective of the present research effort is to develop a model that enables the prediction of the p articular fretting fatigue regime (i.e., slip, stick, or mixed). The parame ters that affect the fretting fatigue lire of metallic components were iden tified and integrated into a model, which allows the prediction of the inte rfacial contact conditions. The model was first used to identify the sensit ivity of the fretting fatigue regimes upon the materials and external, and geometrical parameters. Experimental results concerned with the fatigue lif e were plotted on the fretting maps, the fretting fatigue regimes indicated by the latter enabled the interpretation of the experimental data.