The evolution of contact conditions during fretting wear tests with cylinder-on-flat and crossed-cylinder specimen configurations

This study examines the dependence of fretting wear of a high strength steel using four non-conforming specimen configurations: cylinder-on-flat and crossed-cylinders, with both 6 mm and 160 mm radii cylinders. In each configuration, the wear of the two bodies is well described by their geometrical volume of intersection. A predictive model indicated significant differences in the evolution of the size and depth of the wear scar and contact pressure in the four cases considered; despite this, the size-dependent specific wear rates evaluated were similar to each other (between 24.5 and 43.5 mm 4 MJ -1 ). Furthermore, oxide debris formation was shown to depend on contact size rather than pressure; smaller contact sizes favoured protective debris-bed formation limiting sub-surface plasticity in the specimens.