A new fretting wear test apparatus

A new fretting wear test rig was designed. The fretting contact consists of a sphere-on-plate arrangement. The temperature in a test can be set up to 1200 degrees C (specimen temperature 800 degrees C) and the normal load adjusted to between 130 and 600 N. The frequency can be between 1 and 60 Hz. The slip amplitude is controlled from 5 to 50 mu m by an eccentric cam arrangement. It is, therefore, possible to obtain partial slip fretting wear scars as well as full slip fretting wear scars. During fretting wear tests, the coefficient of friction can also be measured. One of the unique functions of the test rig is that the lower stationary specimen can be subjected to an adjustable static tensile load during tests. Hence, it becomes possible to obtain the relationship between applied tensile loads and fretting wear parameters, and to study the initiation of fatigue cracks by fretting.