Composite Fretting Wear of Aluminum Alloy

Abstract

A complex relative motion of fretting combined by dual motions of radial and tangential fretting was achieved on a modified fretting tester. The composite fretting motion was induced by the action of an oscillating normal force in a sphere-on-inclined flat contact (52100 steel ball against 2091 aluminum alloy). Two types of inclined angles (45° and 60°) were used in the tests. Variations of veridical force vs displacement have been recorded and analyzed as a function of cycles. Effects of the cyclic normal force and the inclined angle were discussed. The test results showed that wear, cracking and plastic deformation accumulation with a strong dissymmetry in damage morphology was observed. A transformation of fretting mode from composite to radial fretting mode occurred due to a strong modification at local contact configuration. As a conclusion, a physical model for wear mechanism of composite fretting was presented.