Abstract
Steel wire ropes experience fretting wear damage when the rope runs over a sheave promoting an oscillatory motion between the wires. Consequently, wear scars appear between the contacting wires leading to an increase of the stress field and the following rupture of the wires due to fatigue. That is why the understanding and prediction of the fretting wear phenomena of thin wires is fundamental in order to improve the performance of steel wire ropes. The present research deals with the design of an ad-hoc fretting wear test machine for thin wires. The test apparatus is designed for testing thin wires with a maximum diameter of 1.0 mm, at slip amplitudes ranging from 5 to 300 μm, crossing angle between 0-90°, and contacting force ranging from 0,5 to 5 N. The working principle of displacement amplitude and contacting force as well as the crossing angle between the wires are described. Preliminary studies for understanding the fretting wear characteristics are presented, analysing 0.45 mm diameter cold-drawn eutectoid carbon steel (0.8% C) wires (tensile strength higher than 3000 MPa).
Highlights
Many mechanical components such as, bearing housings, flexible couplings and spines or wire ropes are simultaneously subjected to a fretting wear and fatigue damage
Steel wire ropes experience fretting wear damage when the rope runs over a sheave promoting an oscillatory motion between the wires
That is why the understanding and prediction of the fretting wear phenomena of thin wires is fundamental in order to improve the performance of steel wire ropes
Summary
Many mechanical components such as, bearing housings, flexible couplings and spines or wire ropes are simultaneously subjected to a fretting wear and fatigue damage. Depending on the magnitude of stresses, fretting phenomenon can cause catastrophic failure of such mechanical components. Steel wire ropes exhibit high axial strength and bending flexibility. These properties are largely dependent on their construction and the manufacturing process of the wires. Despite their outstanding mechanical properties, steel wire ropes are prone to fretting wear damage due to the oscillatory motion between wires. The wear scars appearing at the contact interface increase the stress fields, leading to the rupture of the wires due to fatigue, and eventually the failure of the rope. This work presents the design of the developed ad-hoc tribotester, designed for the characterization of thin steel wires under highly stable displacement strokes and contact forces
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