Elsevier

Tribology International

Volume 151, November 2020, 106494
Tribology International

Experimental and numerical investigation of asperities and indents with respect to rolling contact fatigue

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2020.106494Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Asperities higher than 7 μm failed by micro-pitting caused by plastic deformation.

  • Run-in tensile residual stresses were highest near the leading edge of high asperities.

  • The cyclic TEHL stresses were the highest near the trailing edge of the asperities.

  • Run-in residual stresses were the major cause of micro-pitting on high asperities.

  • Indent pile-up caused classic RCF at the trailing edge due to high cyclic TEHL stresses.

Abstract

Rolling contact experiments with slip were performed on artificial asperities and indents with pile-up. Micro-pits arose at the leading edge of the asperities and classic rolling contact fatigue (RCF) cracks initiated behind the trailing edge of the indents. The elastic-plastic run-in process and the thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication (TEHL) load cycles were studied numerically. The run-in process caused high tensile residual stresses at the leading edge of the asperities while the TEHL load cycle caused high tensile stresses at the trailing edge of both the asperities and the indents. The conclusion was thus drawn that the classic RCF cracks behind the indents were caused by the TEHL load cycle while the micro-pits at these artificial asperities were caused by the tensile residual stresses from plastic deformation.

Keywords

Contact mechanics
Rolling contact fatigue
Rough surface
Thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication

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