Thermal constriction phenomenon in fretting: Theory and implications

Contact temperature in fretting has a significant effect on the process. Since direct temperature measurement is impossible, analytical models are required to estimate the friction-induced temperature rise for the optimization of the system performance. The objective of this work is to present models for the micro and macro thermal constriction phenomena in fretting. The effect of the process parameters is examined. The analysis showed that the contact temperature rise can be quite significant when the contact pressure-to-hardness ratio is high and when the material thermal conductivity is low. The paper is concluded with recommendations for future work.

Research highlights
► Modeling the micro- and macroscopic thermal constriction phenomena in fretting.
► Developing an analytical expression for frictional heat partitioning in fretting.
► Examining the effect of the fretting process parameters and material properties on the friction-induced contact temperature rise.
► Examining the effect of spatial and size random distributions of the micro-contact areas on the thermal constriction impedance.