Tribo-Fatigue

Abstract

By the end of the last century it was realized that most critical units of any machine are the ones which are called active systems, i. e. any mechanical system that operates in the conditions of contact interaction of elements (during sliding, rolling, slippage, etc.) and transmits cycle load simultaneously. In these cases complex wear-fatigue damage of materials takes place. Such systems and processes of their damage became the main object of studies in tribo-fatigue — the science that emerged on the verge of fatigue strength, tribology and the theory of reliability of mechanical systems. Practically the development of tribo-fatigue opens new ways for solving problems of improving lifetime and reliability of machines on main criteria of workability with simultaneous reduction of labour, means and material expenditure for their manufacture and operation. The basic ideas of tribo-fatigue and its interrelation with related disciplines (tribology, fatigue strength, reliability of mechanical systems) are presented in the report [1,2]. In the present work we will give a very brief report of some basic results obtained in tribo-fatigue.