Improving the fretting wear resistance of titanium alloy by laser beam quenching

Abstract

The effects of amplitudes and normal loads on the fretting wear of titanium alloy (TC11) were experimentally investigated on a SRV fretting wear test machine in air, at room temperature and without lubrication. The wear depths were measured by a profilometer, the worn areas were observed and measured by an optical microscopy, and the micro-topographies of worn scars were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The tests and observations state clearly that the fretting wear volume (FWV) is heavily influenced by the sliding amplitude (SA) and load. In this experiment, if the SA is greater than 60 μm at a Hertzian contact stress of 105 MPa, the FWV is much greater, and SEM indicates that the wear mechanism is the combination of adhesive and contact fatigue for the above test conditions. In contrast, if the SA is smaller, the FWV is smaller too, and SEM suggests that the major wear mechanism is contact fatigue. The experiments also reveal that laser beam quenching greatly improves the fretting wear resistance of titanium alloy, especially at heavy load and large amplitude.