An elastic-plastic model for fretting contact

Abstract The type of surface damage that occurs in fretting contact depends on the magnitude of the surface tractions, and the amount of microslip on each point of the contact surface. The constitutive behaviour of asperity contacts, therefore, is of great importance for understanding the friction and wear mechanisms in fretting. In existing fretting models the relative displacement is assumed to be accommodated mainly through microslip in the contact surface and elastic deformation in the bulk of the contacting bodies. The present paper argues that plastic deformation in the contact zone may contribute significantly to the relative displacement during fretting of metals. Friction mechanisms for fretting contacts are discussed, and an elastic-plastic fretting model is suggested.