Hysteresis losses in oscillatory systems

• The elastic energy of a pendulum tribometer is connected with bendings of the contact spots.
• The tribometer quality factor is restricted by hysteresis losses in the contacts.
• The rigidity at contact spot bendings and the small-amplitude oscillation period have been determined.
• The hysteresis loss factors of the materials under study have been obtained.
• From the hysteresis loss factors, the rolling friction coefficients have been calculated.

Hysteresis losses restrict the quality factors of oscillatory systems. We have considered the energy dissipation mechanism using as an example the contact spots of the ball supports of a pendulum tribometer with plane samples. The bending of a contact spot leads to a storage of the system׳s elastic energy. Measuring the quality factor of the pendulum at oscillations, owing to the inclination of the contact spot, makes it possible to determine the coefficient of hysteresis losses in materials and thin coatings without destroying their structures.