On the use of multiaxial fatigue criteria for fretting fatigue life assessment

This paper analyses the influence of different multiaxial fatigue criteria on life assessment in fretting fatigue conditions. Five groups of fretting fatigue tests are used for analysis, with different materials, geometries, sizes, and contact forces. The materials are aluminium and titanium, and the geometries are spherical and cylindrical contact. The life prediction model applied combines initiation with propagation, without a prior definition of when one begins and the other ends. Results are also shown for the application of other life prediction models. Four aspects are analysed with these models: the influence over estimated life when using the value of stresses and strains either in a critical dimension or on the surface; the effect of the initiation length considered over the life obtained; the importance of one phase versus the other; and the influence of the multiaxial criterion employed.