Quantitative analysis of fretting wear crack nucleation in 7075-T6 aluminum alloy using fretting maps

This paper focuses on quantification of fretting wear and its transition into cracks using a fretting map approach. The damage was identified by using various damage zones based on different slip regimes such as partial slip regime, mixed fretting regime and gross slip regime. The technical community still lacks the ability to accurately estimate or predict the transition of fretting damage to cracking and this paper presents additional thoughts to assist with this estimation or prediction based on the displacement amplitude and normal force applied. This study was conducted by using flat on flat contact condition and the resultant fretting map will assist designers planning for fretting fatigue under these conditions. On the fretting map, three different regimes (no damage, wear and combined cracking and wear) were observed. A fretting map of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy yields a better understanding of interactions between sliding regimes and damage evaluation at applied normal force and applied displacement amplitude.