Fretting wear behaviors of hoisting rope wires in acid medium

•Fretting running curve is used to explain the fretting running characteristics of wires.•The fretting running regimes are promoted by the acid medium.•The fretting of steel wire changes from a mixed regime to a slip regime with the contact load’s increasing.•The synergy between corrosion and wear accelerates the failure of wires.•The primary wear mechanism is peeling, particle attrition and corrosion in the acid medium.

The fretting wear behaviors of hoisting rope wires in acid medium were investigated in this paper. Fretting wear tests of steel wires were conducted on a self-made fretting wear rig, and their fretting running characteristics, coefficient of friction, dissipated energy and wear morphology were analyzed. The results show that the relative sliding between steel wires can be promoted in the acid medium. As the contact load increases, the fretting of steel wires changes from a slip regime to a mixed one, and the coefficient of friction decreases significantly. Moreover, the coefficient of friction changes from about 1.2 in the dry friction environment to about 0.5 in the acid medium. Energy loss presents the same variation trend. Wear scar depth is larger in the acid medium than in the dry friction environment. The primary wear mechanism in the dry friction environment is peeling as compared to peeling, particle attrition and corrosion in the acid medium.