A Methodological Approach for Incremental Fretting Wear Formulation

A methodological approach based upon wear energy formulation for prediction of fretting wear in crowned spline couplings is presented. This approach is also applicable to a variety of wear problems which involve sliding Hertzian contact. It begins with a general contact formulation for identification of fretting regimes by Mindlin’s theory and for a non-conforming Hertzian contact of dissimilar surfaces. A conventional non-incremental wear energy model has been used to predict wear volume and to verify the suitability of wear energy model for the given experimental conditions. An analytical general model for incremental prediction of fretting wear depth and volume evolution is developed. This theory refers generally to elliptical contact problems and is validated against experimental data in case of a circular contact. Finally, the theory has been applied for incremental wear depth and volume estimation of crowned spline couplings working in misaligned conditions. The variations in coefficient of friction owing to open loop applied load have been experimentally fitted. The simulated and experimental results are then compared showing a good agreement with each other.