High-speed frictional slip at metal-on-metal interfaces

In this study plate-impact pressure-shear friction experiments are employed to investigate dynamic slip resistance and time-resolved growth of molten metal films during dry metal-on-metal slip under extreme interfacial conditions. By employing a tribo-pair comprising of a hard tool-steel against a relatively low melt-point metal (7075-T6 Al alloy), interfacial normal stress of up to 5 GPa and slip speeds of approximately 250 m/s have been achieved. These extreme interfacial conditions are conducive to the development of molten metal film at the tribo-pair interface. A Lagrangian finite element code is developed to understand the evolution of the thermo-mechanical fields and their relationship to the observed slip response. The code accounts for dynamic effects, heat conduction, contact with friction, and full thermo-mechanical coupling. At temperatures below the melting point of the tribo-pair materials are described as isotropic, thermally softening, elastic–viscoplastic solids. For material elements with temperatures in excess of the melt temperature a purely Newtonian fluid constitutive model is employed.