Effect of Non-Linear Properties of Intermediate Layer on Sliding Contact of Homogeneous and Coated Elastic Solids

Abstract

Lubrication in the contact area can be considered as a viscoelastic layer, especially in the presence of particles in it, or under conditions of low temperatures. The properties of this layer are often non-linear, in particular, they depend on local pressure. The paper presents a formulation and numerical-analytical method for solving the contact problem in the presence of viscoelastic layers, the compliance of which depends on the applied pressure and is included in the formulation as the corresponding operator. The layer is homogeneous or coated elastic half-space. For the selected type of operator, the influence of parameters, which characterize the nonlinearity of the model, on the distribution of contact pressure and the coefficient of friction due to hysteresis losses was analyzed. It is shown that for the nonlinear model, the maximum contact pressures are higher, and the friction coefficient is lower than for the linear model with constant compliance. The effect of non-linearity for a wide range of sliding velocities is considered. An analysis of principal shear and tensile-compressive stresses for a homogeneous elastic half-space and for a coating, in particular, for a coating-substrate interface, was also carried out.