Experimental characterization of roughness parameters for fretting wear in spline couplings

Roughness parameters convey important information about the tribological properties of a material subjected to fretting conditions. They significantly affect the fretting life of the material. An experimental study has been conducted to characterize the variations in roughness parameters with respect to fretting wear and clearance in aero-engine spline couplings which are prone to angular misalignment. A dedicated test bench has been used to test spline couplings made of nitrogen hardened 42CrMo4 with crowned teeth. Tests were performed on samples of identical geometry and material under varying conditions of torque and misalignment angle between the hub and shaft of the coupling. Percentage differences in roughness parameters before and after the test have been characterized which showed symmetric variations, but interestingly mirrored in amplitudes for applied torques and misalignment angles. Even non linear variations behaved similarly for the most of the parameters. Both clearance and fretting wear were found to be in a direct relation with torque and misalignment angle. The parameters, namely peak count and mean height of the peaks have been found to be the most characteristic representation of fretting damage.