Fretting fatigue case studies of engineering components

Fretting fatigue has been studied for nearly a century and a great deal of progress has been made in formulating design practices based on the understanding that has emerged during this period. Nonetheless, many fretting induced fatigue failures still occur and often could have been prevented if knowledge that exists were applied. This paper provides seven brief case studies in various fields of interest. Each case is presented briefly and then the manner used to deal with the issue to prevent its continued occurrence is given. The paper demonstrates that if fretting fatigue failure mode is anticipated and predicted based on knowledge of the factors that lead to fretting fatigue then adequate prevention and control practice can be used to avoid it in the design and use of components. One of the great challenges ahead is to assure all engineering students around the world get educated as to the factors and parameters that cause fretting fatigue to occur and thus design teams could take positive action to prevent it in almost all cases.